Fish use body undulations to swim, which creates water movements with great acceleration behind the fish. The form of the wave is similar among most fish, but number, speed, and amplitude change of the wave can all vary. There is little known about how the COM of fish changes with swimming speed. However, it is known that the COM can change in all three dimensions: surge, sway, and heave. The COM of three fish were calculated in all three directions. Surge COM displacement and acceleration in eels and bluegill sunfish oscillated at twice the tail beat frequency, while the sway COM displacement and acceleration oscillated at the tail beat frequency. Surge COM oscillations did not change with swimming speed, while sway oscillations increased with increasing swimming speed. Sway amplitudes increased with increased swimming speed in bluegill sunfish, but the same was not true for the eels.
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