High Speed Video
In Fish Lab we used a high-speed camera to try and capture the swimming mechanism of different fishes. I cannot speak too highly of my surprise in discovering how different a fish appears when it is viewed in slow motion. What is at normal speed appears to be a fast oscillation of tail and fin becomes a beautifully executed movement that can only be appreciated at such a slow speed. The regularity of the motion becomes apparent as well as the minute movements of dorsal and pectoral fins that can't be seen by the naked eye. Garrett and I filmed Blepsias cirrhosus and I was surprised by the vast difference in motion that appears in the screen of the camera compared to the eye alone. Blepsias oscillates its dorsal fin in a sinusoidal motion as well as oscillating its tail back and fourth. It uses its pectoral fins to start it from a stop, and in slow motion, it looks like flight. The high speed camera affords a view of the swimming fish that is impossible to view without it. The timed and ordered motions of the fish are like the inner mechanism of a watch: always there but never seen unless you have the right tools. This lab was really beneficial for my understanding of fish locomotion.
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