What would an efficient swimming creature in magma be like?

This question is specifically about the mechanics of an alien creature swimming in highly viscous magma, the unlikeliness of life surviving at magma temperatures etc isn't relevant. Just imagine it's extremely thick mud if it helps. :)

My research so far:

Swimming in syrup is as easy as water:

Unless I'm mistaken, this means viscosity doesn't necessarily make you swim slower if you are big enough. (Also being a snake with gorilla arms helps, apparently.)

Magma Viscosity and mantle movement:

Upper mantle magma is estimated between $10^{19}$ and $10^{24}$ Pascal seconds (Pa·s).
Basalt lava between $10^2$ and $10^4$ Pa·s.
Water's viscosity is $8.90×10^{−4}$ Pa·s.

I don't know nearly enough physics to make heads or tails of this. I could not find more in-depth information about what I'm looking for.

Perhaps if there's a relationship between size and ability to swim in viscous fluids, the size it'd have to be could be calculated from the viscosity? Perhaps it'd have to be millions of times bigger.

Would the equivalent of jet propulsion be more or less efficient in a extremely viscous medium? I'd guess less, but I have no way of knowing. I don't know enough about the mechanics of swimming in general, or what style of locomotion would be more efficient in a high viscosity medium.

posted almost 7 years ago

Fred the John‭

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