George Lauder @georgelauder.bsky.social · Mar 24 Why might #fish in a #school swim behind one another? A🧵.This question arises because being behind another fish involves #swimming in faster flow. A cyclist can draft because oncoming velocity is reduced. A thrust wake is like a cyclist facing a leader with a large fan.
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This would seem clearly to be disadvantageous, so in-line (tandem) swimming in fish has been thought to be bad, because leading fish generate a thrust wake that fish behind would encounter. This increased velocity should increase the energy required to swim.