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three major categories of swimming activity: sustained (>200 min), prolonged (20 s to 200 min) and burst (<20 s). In this context, fast-starts may be viewed as a form of burst swimming, lasting for less than approximately 1 s. From a mechanical perspective, fast-starts are unsteady (transient) motions, while sustained and prolonged swimming are steady (periodic) movements (Webb, 1984a), except for the case of species performing burst-and-coast swimming for extended periods. The present paper reviews the kinematics and performance of fast-starts in adult fish, covering kinematic types, distance–time performance characteristics, scaling and temperature effects, technical measurement errors, turning angles and radii, and the relevance of fast-start performance in predator–prey interactions