https://feddit.org/u/NichEherVielleicht posted on Mar 9, 2026 16:54
The only difference between swimming and flying is the medium you’re traveling in.
Not if it’s a swimming crab.
Crabs can swim and swim often
several species have evolved into crabs.
Lots of crabs can swim
I wear a large.
Do the crabs that can’t swim think they’re flying?
a numba 9 large?
Nerd.
Do birds think they are swimming? 🤔
Do some crabs go to space?
Shhhh, some of them are not quite there yet, and we don’t want to be rude to those less evolved than ourselves.
To be pedantic, they’re pretty different. Fish are neutrally buoyant, they stay “aloft” due to a similar density to the medium they travel in and swimming is merely a means of propulsion. Birds are more dense than the medium they travel in, and only stay aloft by active interaction with their medium. If a bird stops flying, it plummets; if a fish stops swimming, it continues to float mid-medium.
I didn’t say fish fly like birds, but airships and hot air balloons fly by matching density with the air. Hot air gallons them use air currents to move similar to things like jellyfish use water currents. And blimps and other airships use propulsion that would be analogous to fish using their fins to propel them. Still flight.
There is a reason fluid dynamics encompasses hydrodynamics and aerodynamics. The differences in medium to impact things, but the basic principles are the same. You can use the same principles to create lift in water, and you can change buoyancy to float in air.
Some crabs’ wings just take longer to sprout, it’s actually pretty normal and totally cool.
Your mom evolved into crabs
Technically maybe, but this seemed more like an animal-centric topic. Yes, technically, fluid dynamics are the same. But animals overall have a density much closer to water than air, so in this case the principles of remaining “aloft” are heavily influenced by that difference in medium. LTAVs more float than fly, and jellyfish more float than swim . When we say an animal flies, we are referring to heavier-than-air organisms using lift, not floating.
The general principle of generating lift is very different from the general principle of floating and propelling oneself through a similarly dense medium. I’ll concede bivalves as “flying” in water, since they do sink when not actively propelling themselves. But fish, the subject here, do not interact with their fluid the same way birds fly.
So guess it all depends on how you define flight haha. I don’t really see any reason tk argue over a silly comment on a silly meme.
Extra medium?
Actually I think technically that birds are swimming.
There’s no reason to do anything ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ life is play
Wait until you see this one.
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/502ed551-54d0-4c3e-a6ac-973b2dd980c9.gif
Why did you say this? Mods, was this post made in good faith? ARE YOU A BOT BEEP BOOP
We do things because they are simulating. We argue about silly comments on silly memes because banter is fun.
Exactly the gif I was thinking of. But considering OP’s choice of format, it still fits.
Good point considering air is a liquid at higher pressures!
