ABSTRACT
While snorkeling at the sea surface we naturally focus our eyes on distant objects: a rocky reef on the sea floor or a school of fish finding temporary shelter beneath our boat. But all around us in the water there are small creatures that are hunting food or avoiding predation. These include bacteria (about 1 µm long), singlecelled dinoflagellate phytoplankton (10 µm to 1 mm diameter), crustaceans, fish (the smaller ones from 0.1 to 10 mm); some in their larval state that will soon seek a reef system to settle upon. Swimming is different for them: at minute lengths they experience water as a syrupy medium. Understanding how they swim at the submillimeter scale can provide insight into how we can revolutionize the design of microrobotic devices for swimming or pushing fluids.
