Relative swimming speeds in reef fish larvae

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Abstract
In most organisms relative locomotor speed (body lengths per second (bls -1 )) is inversely proportional to body size. The ability of late stage reef fish larvae to achieve swimming speeds of over 40 bls -1 is consistent with this gen- eral scaling relationship. However, this relationship does not extend to smaller larvae which are not fully developed. Max- imum critical swimming speeds appear to be limited by both developmental stage and size. At 7 mm total length when set- tling, the unusually small larvae of anemonefishes are able to sustain speeds of 49 bls -1 . This probably approaches the max- imum limit for sustained aquatic vertebrate locomotion.

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