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High-speed swimming

Enhanced power in yellowfin tuna

Nature volume 410, pages 770–771 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Tuna are distinctive among bony fish for their elite swimming ability and their muscle anatomy, having loins of red, aerobic fibres deep within the body where other fish have only white, anaerobic fibres1,2. Here we record the performance of the red muscle of yellowfin tuna in vitro and in vivo to show how this specialized muscle architecture can double the cruising power of these fish, revealing a functional link between this biomechanical design and high-speed swimming.

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Figure 1: Superior performance of tuna red muscle is due to its anatomical and biomechanical design, as well as to its physiology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Laboratory for Open Water Mechanical Engineering, 3241 Ocean Drive, Oxnard, 93035, California, USA

    Stephen L. Katz

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

    Douglas A. Syme

  3. Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution Of Oceanography, La Jolla, 92039-0202, California, USA

    Robert E. Shadwick

Authors
  1. Stephen L. Katz
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  2. Douglas A. Syme
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  3. Robert E. Shadwick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen L. Katz.

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Katz, S., Syme, D. & Shadwick, R. Enhanced power in yellowfin tuna. Nature 410, 770–771 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35071170

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