ENERGY-STORAGE BY ELASTIC MECHANISMS IN THE TAIL OF LARGE SWIMMERS - A REEVALUATION

Fish and cetaceans may use, like mammals, elastic mechanisms to reduce metabolic cost of locomotion. Such energy savings require a detailed tuning of material properties and the dynamics of the system. Bennett et al. (1987, J. Zool., Lond. 211, 177-192) investigated the possibility of energy storage for cetaceans. They concluded that for steady swimming at cruising speed the compliance of the tissues would increase metabolic cost. We re-evaluated this question by expanding the model using a more realistic representation of the hydrodynamic forces. We found that the elastic tissues in the body of cetaceans significantly reduce the cost of locomotion. © 1994 Academic Press Limited.