Entraining in trout: a behavioural and hydrodynamic analysis

Rheophilic fish commonly experience unsteady flows and hydrodynamic perturbations. Instead of avoiding turbulent zones though, rheophilic fish often seek out these zones for station holding. A behaviour associated with station holding in running water is called entraining. We investigated the entraining behaviour of rainbow trout swimming in the wake of a D-shaped cylinder or sideways of a semi-infinite flat plate displaying a rounded leading edge. Entraining trout moved into specific positions close to and sideways of the submerged objects, where they often maintained their position without corrective body and/or fin motions. To identify the hydrodynamic mechanism of entraining, the flow characteristics around an artificial trout placed at the position preferred by entraining trout were analysed. Numerical simulations of the 3-D unsteady flow field were performed to obtain the unsteady pressure forces. Our results suggest that entraining trout minimise their energy expenditure during station holding by tilting their body into the mean flow direction at an angle, where the resulting lift force and wake suction force cancel out the drag. Small motions of the caudal and/or pectoral fins provide an efficient way to correct the angle, such that an equilibrium is even reached in case of unsteadiness imposed by the wake of an object.