Jellyfish are known as the world’s most efficient swimmers because they do not produce bubbles in the water and their movements are quiet and efficient. New research has found that the original jellyfish swim with a secret technique.
Researchers at the University of South Florida found that when jellyfish swim, the transparent body will produce two liquid vortexes that rotate in opposite directions, causing a “ground effect” that allows jellyfish to swim with less effort.
The ground effect is when the plane takes off on the runway, the air squeezes into the fuselage and between the ground, forming pressure that helps the plane take off. This study found that the jellyfish swims with two reverse vortices underneath it repelling each other, forming an invisible plane that acts like the ground to increase the effect of counter-thrust.
The researchers said it was the first Time they had seen animals create such conditions to help swim in seawater far from any surface plane.
The study, recently published in the “Royal Society Report B” (Proceedings of the Royal Society B), used a high-speed digital camera with a thousand frames per second to record the images of eight jellyfish swimming in a transparent container and found that the jellyfish that started from swimming was 41 percent faster than the jellyfish that started from a standstill, reaching a maximum speed of 61 percent longer cumulative swimming distance.
The researchers said the jellyfish’s labor-saving swimming style helps them conserve energy for growth and reproduction. Several research groups have drawn on jellyfish as models for developing underwater maneuvering tools to conduct underwater monitoring or perform other tasks without stirring up the water.
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