A few days ago, I was flipping through a 1954 book by Frank Lane titled
"Nature Parade." Lane had a chapter on fish swimming abilities and compiled
a table of "fastest reasonably authenticated" speeds for a group of 40
fishes and fish-like organisms. The stickleback (Gasterosteus) was listed
as the 6th slowest and its speed, measured with a stopwatch, was listed at
6.8 mph. This doesn't sound fast but if my math is correct, it is
equivalent to 299 cm/s! This would be pretty fast for a small fish. Burst
speeds (highest attainable speeds) measured under controlled conditions for
juvenile sturgeons, salmonids, and a mackeral are substantially lower:
50-150 cm/s. Lane's rankings seem right, though, suggesting that the older
field-measurments of fish speed were inflated but when compared among taxa
were relatively correct.
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org