Motorized aquatic toy with articulated tail

An aquatic apparatus, comprising:

• a buoyant body having a front and a rear, a head at the front and a trunk at the rear, and two thrust generators within the body to drive the body through water;
• an articulated tail depending from the rear of the body and having a longitudinal axis with a plurality of tail segments, including a first tail segment coupled to the rear of the body, a second tail segment coupled to the first tail segment, a third tail segment coupled to the second tail segment, a fourth tail segment coupled to the third tail segment, a fifth tail segment coupled to the fourth tail segment, a sixth tail segment coupled to the fifth tail segment, and a caudal fin coupled to the sixth tail segment that are all coupled in together with upper and lower vertically oriented hinges to enable lateral articulated movement of the articulated tail in a transverse plane;
• each of the first through sixth tail segments has a hollow interior and a dorsal hinge connector and a pelvic hinge connector that respectively include a dorsal and pelvic hinge pin receivable within a respective dorsal and pelvic hinge receiver in an adjacent tail segment;
• the hinge pins and receivers are structured to provide a gap between each of the tail segments and an adjacent tail segment to permit the lateral articulated movement of the tail segments relative to one another and to the body and to permit water to flow through each gap and through the tail segments;
• and
• a body cavity cap fastened to the fourth tail segment in a manner that provides an airtight and watertight seal and creates a buoyancy chamber inside the fourth tail segment.

An aquatic apparatus, comprising:

• a buoyant body having a front and a rear;
• at least one thrust generator on the body to drive the body through water and to cause the body to yaw about a vertical axis;
• an articulated tail depending from the rear of the body, the articulated tail having a longitudinal axis and including a plurality of tail segments, each tail segment having a shaped leading edge and a shaped trailing edge, upper and lower aft hinge points, and upper and lower forward hinge points extending forward of the leading edge to couple to a respective upper and lower aft hinge point of an adjacent tail segment and providing a gap between each respective tail segment, the articulated tail comprising at least five tail segments depending from the rear of the body;
• and a buoyancy chamber formed in a fourth tail segment in the articulated tail and further comprising an airtight and water tight forward compartment in the body that includes air inside the forward compartment to provide buoyancy to the body.