Abstract
The purpose of our study is to analyze swimming motion of a mosquito larva. When it meets some dangerous situations, it escapes actively from air-water surface to bottom with rapid swimming motion and some time later it is back to water surface for its breathing. A swimming thrust is obtained by a paddling motion of its tail fin with a separation of a vortex in the power stroke. We measured velocity vector fields around the body and wake by micro PIV measurements. It was found that a snapping motion of its tail fin yielded thrust.
