In Caenorhabditis elegans, spp-1 regulates pore channel activity while umps-1 contributes to life span and radiation response. The experimental goal was to determine which of these genes has a greater effect on swimming behavior and muscular phenotype. Using RNAi to identify gene function, we observed thrashing and muscular phenotypes and found that both the downregulation of spp-1 and umps-1 increases the rate of swimming behavior.