A new approach to micro-scale particle image velocimetry (µPIV) for quantifying flows around free-swimming zooplankton

Our current understanding of zooplankton interactions with surrounding fluid is limited, partially because traditional methods of particle image velocimetry (PIV) become impractical at scales less than a few millimeters and microscope-based systems restrict motions and can incur “wall effects”. We present a new approach to small-scale PIV imaging and our results demonstrate the ability to observe detailed kinematics simultaneously with fluid motion at small scales around free-swimming zooplankton. This can improve our understanding of animal–fluid interactions at small spatial scales and low Reynolds number.