Kashmiri Pandits' Association, Mumbai, India

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'Increase your Knowledge'  Series:

How Animals Move Under Water

Aquatic animals use all manner of methods, including paddles and propellers, body undulations and jet propulsion, to force their way through water. Jellyfish and the larvae of sea anemones move with a pulsating bell, octopus and squid squirt water from a funnel, scallops clap their shells together, and lobsters and prawns escape predators by bending and flexing their tales and shooting backwards - all forms of jet propulsion.

    Many bony fish, sharks and sea snakes move with S-shaped undulations that pass from head to tail pushing the animals forwards. Some microscopic animals move with a whip-like flagellum that also works by passing an S-shaped wave from base to tip. Skates, squid and cuttlefish create S-shaped waves in the fins alongside their body. Other fish like 'gurnards' crawl across the sea floor on modified pectoral fins, and 'batfish' hop.

    Of the amphibians, newts use their flattened tail to move like fish, but frogs and toads push with powerful back legs and webbed feet. Some aquatic birds such as 'cormorants' have webbed feet that move alternately when at the surface and together under water.

    Crocodiles have powerful tails which they move from side to side. Marine mammals such as whales and dolphins, move with an up and down movement of the body, while the tail flukes are kept horizontal to give maximum thrust. Penguins and sea turtles literally fly under water. The movement of their flippers is similar to the  flapping of a flying bird's wing, except that there is power in both the upstroke and the downstroke.

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