Descriptive statistics of swimming behavior of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia in artificial pond water.

Timed-exposure, dark-field photography was used to characterize the swimming behavior of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia in artificial pond water. Histograms and descriptive statistics were determined for helical swimming amplitude and wavelength, linear speed, turning frequency, and turning angle. Turning frequency could not be distinguished from a Poisson distribution so that turning appeared to occur randomly. Amplitude and wavelength showed no correlation. Faster miracidia exhibited less helical pattern while swimming. The effects of vertical movement of miracidia and of miracidial concentration were determined to be minimal.