Kinematics of swimming of the manta ray: three-dimensional analysis of open-water maneuverability.

For aquatic animals, turning maneuvers represent a locomotor activity that may not be confined to a single coordinate plane, making analysis difficult, particularly in the field. To measure turning performance in a three-dimensional space for the manta ray (), a large open-water swimmer, scaled stereo video recordings were collected. Movements of the cephalic lobes, eye and tail base were tracked to obtain three-dimensional coordinates.