Swordfish steaks frequently appear on menus and dinner plates around the world. But even though many people have hooked, hacked apart, and devoured these majestic fish, few truly understand their bodies. Indeed, until John Videler from Leiden & Groningen University started studying swordfish, no one knew that they had a fist-sized gland in their heads, which slathers lubricating oil over their famous pointed snouts.

Videler has been studying the physics of swimming fish for most of his career, and swordfish were particularly intriguing to him because they’re such superlative swimmers. It’s commonly said that they can reach speeds of 100 kilometres per hour (62 miles per hour), and although the provenance of that estimate is dubious, there’s little doubt