Adapted to swimming

Natatorial describes animals that are adapted to locomotion in water - they are swimmers. They fall into three categories: those that evolved in water (for instance sharks and jellyfish), those that had land living ancestors but have returned to an aquatic life (dolphins and manatees) and those that split their time between water and land (penguins, crocodiles) and need to move around efficiently in both. Animals which just have a swim now and then - say to cross a river - are not natatorial.

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About

Swimming is biologically propelled motion through a liquid medium. Swimming has evolved a number of times in a range of organisms ranging from arthropods to fish to molluscs.

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