Fish accomplish most of their basic behaviors by swimming. Swimming is fundamental in a vast majority of fish species for avoiding predation, feeding, finding food, mating, migrating and finding optimal physical environments.

Fish exhibit a wide variety of swimming patterns and behaviors. This treatise looks at fish swimming from the behavioral and ecological perspectives rather than from the more traditional biomechanics, ecomorphology and physiological perspectives used in studies of fish swimming.

The book is therefore largely integrative by its own nature, and it includes considerations related to fisheries, conservation and evolution. It is aimed at students and researchers interested in fish swimming from any organismal background, be it biomechanics, ecomorphology, physiology, behavior or ecology.