Its all about the lube...Why Swordfish Swim So Fast

[M.D. Holloway]

What makes swordfish the fastest swimmers on Earth? It's all about the lube! - Seriously, Science?

Interesting!

[72doug2,2S]

I think it was the inspiration behind Corvette Summer.

[GH85Carrera]

No doubt the lube helps, but the overall shape of the swordfish and the solid muscles are a bigger part.

[kach22i]

Nature, it finds a way.

[sc_rufctr]

By the rules of evolution... The glands that produce the oil wouldn't be there unless they provided some sort of an advantage.

But how significant could it be?

[vash]

that sucks. i secrete a lube, and i'm slow as eff.

[djmcmath]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

By the rules of evolution... The glands that produce the oil wouldn't be there unless they provided some sort of an advantage.

But how significant could it be?

And how would they develop? Was the first evolutionary step a complete gland system that produced the right stuff to make the first one faster? If not, what intermediate steps evolved to make small survival gains while developing that kind of innovation?

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

And how would they develop? Was the first evolutionary step a complete gland system that produced the right stuff to make the first one faster? If not, what intermediate steps evolved to make small survival gains while developing that kind of innovation?

I could have been a mutation that "accidentally" provided a speed advantage and therefore that animal was more likely to produce off spring which carried the mutation.

But really... How could we know for sure?

[Crowbob]

Evolutionary theory supports the beneficial mutation angle. I have trouble with it, however. A mutation would have to occur in a large number of individuals and most of those individuals who did survive to reproductive age would have to also have spawned huge numbers of mutated offspring. Over millions of years those mutated spawn would have had to gradually become the norm.

I admittedly have trouble comprehending a million life-cycles, so that might be holding me back.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

The sub fleet has used this trick for decades .

Now we know where the fish got the idea.

_

[M.D. Holloway]

the sub fleet ain't the only ones...

[wayner]

One angle on evolution supports a breakaway group of mutants who then compete with the main group ( successfully if the mutation is an advantage to get to the food first etc)

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by wayner

One angle on evolution supports a breakaway group of mutants who then compete with the main group ( successfully if the mutation is an advantage to get to the food first etc)

That does make sense. In addition, the mutants don't necessarily have to have an advantage over nature but rather over same-species non-mutants. That seems like it would accelerate things.

[widgeon13]

Ever seen a hammerhead move through the water? Scary fast but I guess not as fast as a swordfish.

[scottmandue]

Lots of slimy slow moving fish out there, like catfish, ells?
Mako shark and tuna are pretty fast... don't think they have slime?
Perhaps it is the hydro dynamics of that big pointy spear that help the swordfish swim so fast?