The science of how fishes swim

low and high-pressure vortices

Fishes are unmatched when it comes to swimming. They can navigate complex underwater environments with great motion control and flexibility.

It’s no wonder that all our swimming machines — from submarines to underwater drones — imitate fishes in their shape.

There have been many studies on how exactly fishes manage to do this. But it seems that we keep discovering something new each time.

Now researchers in China have discovered that fishes create two vertices of water using their tail fin which helps them move forward.

One of these is a low-pressure vortex that pulls water towards it, and the other is a high-pressure vortex that pushes water away from it.

By bending its tail in a specific fashion, the fish generates a high pressure on the front side and a low-pressure vertex at the back.

The net effect is that the fish moves forward.

By bending its tail back and forth, it creates a body wave that enables it to move in any direction.

These results were discovered by observing Zebrafish swimming in a tank.

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