Finally, students will interpret reasons for different fish shapes in varied aquatic environments, and understand that animals and their natural habitats are well matched to each other. Wait for the water to settle down. Water is much more dense than air. This means that even slight differences in shape can cause a difference in drag. If a fish is less streamlined, it will take more energy to swim.
Air is much less dense than water, so the force needed to move through air is lower.
This means that land animals can have lots of different shapes. Even so, streamlined land animals move the fastest like the jaguar. Using a robotic tuna, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are learning to make better designs of ships, submarines, and research vessels. The idea of learning from nature to improve today s technology is an emerging science called biomimesis. Watch the fish s tail movement and the water around it closely.