Elastic energy storage in seahorses leads to a unique suction flow dynamics compared with other actinopterygians.

ABSTRACT: Suction feeding is a dominant prey-capture strategy across actinopterygians, consisting of a rapid expansion of the mouth cavity that drives a flow of water containing the prey into the mouth. Suction feeding is a power-hungry behavior, involving the actuation of cranial muscles as well as the anterior third of the fish's swimming muscles. Seahorses, which have reduced swimming muscles, evolved a unique mechanism for elastic energy storage that powers their suction flows. This mechanism allows seahorses to achieve head rotation speeds that are 50 times faster than those of fish lacking such a mechanism. However, it is unclear how the dynamics of suction flows in seahorses differ from the conserved pattern observed across other actinopterygians, or how differences in snout length across sea

SUBMITTER: Avidan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8443865 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature