ABSTRACT
For many years, physiologists have investigated the energetics of animal swimming through respirometry, employing flumes to set constant levels of activity. The animal is encouraged to move steadily against the flow for preset periods of time. Over the last 30 years or so, observations and the remote tracking (e.g. telemetry, underwater video systems, etc.) of the movements of animals in nature have made it clear that sustained continuous motion is the exception rather than the rule as far as the pattern of animal swimming is concerned. Left to their own devices, many aquatic vertebrates choose to move intermittently, alternating periods of force production with periods of passive motion. This chapter is about the energetic consequences of intermittent propulsion. Reviews of fish swimming in general have been given by Blake (1983a), Videler (1993) and in Chapter 5.
