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Created: 2011-12-01
Updated: 2011-12-01

Flexible stalk adjusts to flow forces: Styela sea squirt


The stalk of Styela sea squirts adjusts to changing flow forces for efficient filter feeding due to its flexible structure.

Biomimicry Taxonomy
 
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Biomimetic Application Ideas
 
Filter water efficiently through flexible tube system. Use (MR3) filters to get metals out of industrial wastes (removable tubes in permanent pipe). Use micro-wind energy structures to orient and compress flow of air to drive small turbine.

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[Collapse all sections] Summary
"An equivalent scheme serves the same function in at least one tunicate or ascidian (fig. 7.3b), a sessile marine animal about as distantly related to a caddisfly as are we. These 'sea squirts' have the relevant plumbing inside themselves rather than in some external domicile, but the fundamental problem of suspension feeding remains - how to move water through a separation device in such a way that the yield from food exceeds the cost of moving the water. The particular ascidian, Styela, takes advantage of local water motion to pass water through itself, but to do so it must contend with the rapidly changing direction of coastal wave surge. It has, though, quite a flexible stalk, and it manages to reorient like a weather vane so the input opening always confronts the flow (Young and Braithwaite 1980)" (Vogel 2003:146)
About the inspiring organism
Styela
Styela


Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist
Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Filter water efficiently through flexible tube system. Use (MR3) filters to get metals out of industrial wastes (removable tubes in permanent pipe). Use micro-wind energy structures to orient and compress flow of air to drive small turbine.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Water purification, bioremediation, wind energy

References
Steven Vogel. 2003. Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 580 p.
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