Evaluation of empirical statistical models for analyzing swimming speeds of teleost fishes

Abstract

Average swimming speeds attained for eight, discrete distances were determined for 10 teleost fishes: Atlantic croaker, bluegill sunfish, channel catfish, goldfish, hardhead sea catfish, large‐mouth bass, pigfish, pinfish, sheepshead porgy and striped burrfish. Swimming speeds in cm s⁻¹ were analyzed by linear, quadratic, cubic and quartic regression, logio transformations, and by fitting exponential, geometric (power function), hyperbolic and logistic models by linear approximations. Swimming speeds in body lengths s ⁻¹ (BLS) were analyzed by linear, quadratic, cubic and quartic regression. The “best” method of analysis is quadratic regression for all species for both measures of swimming speed. Regression using BLS, however, provided improved r²% compared to regression using cm s⁻¹. The wide range in morphology represented by these species was expected to yield a number of species‐specific models. The lack of diversity in these modelling results is attributed to trade‐offs and compromises in the functional designs, amounts of muscle mass as a percentage of body mass, and longitudinal depth distributions of the species.

Keywords:

• Empirical models
• swimming performance
• swimming speed
• body form
• locomotion
• teleosts

Notes

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