Hydrodynamic Properties of Benthic Marine Crustacea. II. Energy Requirements for Maintaining Vertical Position

Abstract

In order to characterize and compare swimming abilities of crustaceans, attempts were made to assess the minimum power requirements for maintaining a constant position in a water column. The relatively slow swimming movements were compared with the flight of a helicopter; for t h ~ s equations are available for calculating power during flight. A new equation is given which avoids the uncertainties introduced by using helicopter equations; the values obtained are of the same order of magnitude. The energy consumption per gram animal is very similar for the species compared. This is the more remarkable as large differences exist in their body density and drag coefficient for sinking. In large-sized species the increase in power requirement for position holding at increasing body weight is usually very small.