Fish maintain stability in turbulence: spotted boxfish

1 of 1 A boxfish showing plates, keels, fins / OCVA / License

Keels of boxfish provide stability in turbulent water by generating strong, longitudinal vortices.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Maintain physical integrity >
	Manage structural forces >
	Turbulence

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Creating aerodynamic transportation.

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"The marine boxfishes (Teleostei: Ostraciidae) are mostly shallow-water, tropical reef-dwelling fishes that have 2/3–3/4 of their bodies encased in rigid bony carapaces, which are keeled with various protuberances (Tyler, 1980; Nelson, 1994). As a result, many boxfishes cannot bend their bodies anterior to their caudal peduncles, and almost all of their swimming movements
derive from complex combinations of motions of their five fins. Field observations and recent studies on the swimming physiology of boxfishes indicate that they are capable of remarkably low recoil motions, resulting in smooth, energy-efficient swimming trajectories that do not compromise maneuverability...Hove et al. (2001) found that boxfishes exhibit some of the smallest amplitude recoil moments known among fishes. As a result they swim in smoother trajectories than either body and caudal fin (BCF) or single- complex median and paired fin (MPF) swimmers. Results from our study
[study looked at four species: spotted boxfish Ostracion meleagris, smooth trunkfish Lactophrys triqueter, scrawled cowfish Acanthostracion quadricornis, and buffalo trunkfish Lactophrys trigonus] indicate that the keeled bony carapace plays an important role in producing this longitudinal stability. Control for pitching is important for fishes, such as boxfishes, that live in highly energetic waters with frequent external disturbances like turbulence. In these environments, effective compensation for perturbations, which can lead to significant displacements and energy-wasting erratic trajectories, is essential for effective and economical swimming (Weihs, 1993; Webb, 2000). Maintenance of smooth swimming trajectories also presumably improves sensory acuity of both hostile and target objects because it reduces complexity of movement, a factor that improves sensory perception in other animals (Land, 1999; Kramer and McLaughlin, 2001)." (Bartol et al. 2002:971, 979)

About the inspiring organism

Black boxfish
Ostracion meleagris Shaw, 1796
[Blue-spotted boxfish, Box, Spotted boxfish, Spotted trunkfish, Whitespotted boxfish]

Some organism data provided by: FishBase
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Creating aerodynamic transportation.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Transportation, Energy

CAO and SKO design software - Lightweighting software to use with FEM (Finite Element Method)

References

Bartol IK; Gordon MS; Gharib M; Hove JR, Webb PW, Weihs D. 2002. Flow Patterns Around the Carapaces of Rigid-bodied, Multi-propulsor Boxfishes (Teleostei: Ostraciidae). Integrative and Comparative Biology. 42: 971-980.

Fish maintain stability in turbulence: spotted boxfish

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