Sawfishes stealth revealed using computational fluid dynamics

Bradney, D.R., Davidson, A., Evans, S.P., Wueringer, B.E., Morgan, D.L., and Clausen, P.D. (2017) Sawfishes stealth revealed using computational fluid dynamics. Journal of Fish Biology, 90 (4). pp. 1584-1596.

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Abstract

Detailed computational fluid dynamics simulations for the rostrum of three species of sawfish (Pristidae) revealed that negligible turbulent flow is generated from all rostra during lateral swipe prey manipulation and swimming. These results suggest that sawfishes are effective stealth hunters that may not be detected by their teleost prey's lateral line sensory system during pursuits. Moreover, during lateral swipes, the rostra were found to induce little velocity into the surrounding fluid. Consistent with previous data of sawfish feeding behaviour, these data indicate that the rostrum is therefore unlikely to be used to stir up the bottom to uncover benthic prey. Whilst swimming with the rostrum inclined at a small angle to the horizontal, the coefficient of drag of the rostrum is relatively low and the coefficient of lift is zero.

Item ID: 54162
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1095-8649
Keywords: CT scan, elasmobranch, lateral swipe, sawfish rostrum, turbulent flow
Date Deposited: 19 Jun 2018 02:49
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310301 Behavioural ecology @ 50%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310906 Animal neurobiology @ 50%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
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