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| | Integrative and Comparative Biology: Wake dynamics and locomotor function in fishes: Interpreting evolutionary patterns ... |
 | | As yet, the functional significance of these historical trends in pectoral fin design remains largely untested by experiment In this paper we test the proposal that variation in pectoral fin structure has an important influence on the magnitude and orientation of fluid forces generated during maneuvering locomotion. |
 | | Despite a century of active investigation into the mechanism of pectoral fin function, there remains a critical area of study in which experimental zoologists are only now making initial progress: analysis of the physical interaction between the locomotor anatomy of freely swimming fishes and the aquatic medium. |
 | | Previous workers have shown that during actinopterygian evolution major transformations have occurred in (i) the anatomical position of the pectoral fin and (ii) the orientation of the pectoral fin base (Schmalhausen, 1916; Breder, 1926; Harris, 1937, 1938; Greenwood et al., 1966; Gosline, 1971; Alexander, 1974; Rosen, 1982; Webb, 1982). |
| www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_qa4054/is_200211/ai_n9154517 (1293 words) |
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