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Robot eel reveals how the strange fish swim so efficiently

Tests with an eel-inspired robot show that the unusual fish may swim most efficiently by reducing their speed

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

1 December 2023

the eel robot

The 1-guilla robot is helping to explain how eels can swim so far without feeding

Alexandros Anastasiadis, Annalisa Rossi, Laura Paez, et al.

Eels have been observed to swim for thousands of kilometres without feeding during their migration period, and experiments with an eel robot may help explain how they do it. They suggest eels can swim in a more energy-efficient manner by changing the way they undulate their bodies.

Alexandros Anastasiadis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and his colleagues built a waterproof…

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