Dolphins cannot swim too fast

The fastest speed a dolphin can swim near the water is 54 km / hour. He can't swim faster, if he doesn't want to hurt. That was the discovery of two researchers from the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa. However, according to the team, tuna does not encounter the same problem.

Gil Iosilevskii and Danny Weihs performed a series of calculations on the tail and fin models of fish such as tuna and mackerel, and marine mammals like dolphins. The goal is to determine the maximum swimming speed of these creatures.

The two find that although muscle strength is a limiting factor for small fish, it is not true for larger and better swimmers like tuna and dolphins.

It was the pain that hindered them

"There are some obstacles to swimming speed that are not related to power," explains Iosilevskii. One of them is the frequency at which an animal can beat its tail to push itself up.

Another factor is the creation of tiny water balloons around the tail, also known as " bubbles ". For animals such as dolphins - whose nerves reach the tail - bubbles may be the most critical hindrance.

These bullets are the product of the pressure difference, which is generated when the fins move. When the water ball breaks, they generate shock waves, which hurt the dolphins. According to the team's calculations, at the first few meters of water depth, this phenomenon occurs when dolphins reach speeds of 36 to 54 km / h.

Tuna has a bone tail, no nerves here, so sometimes they still break the speed limit causing pain.

When swimming over a certain speed, dolphins will suffer from " whipping " pain. (Photo: fohn.net)