What hydrodynamic turning modes are used by juvenile/adult cuttlefish Sepia bandensis and how do they compare with conspecific hatchlings?
Turning accounts for a large percentage of a swimmer’s movement, as it is fundamental for hunting, predator avoidance, and communication. Quantification of the wake around maneuvering animals provides valuable information about how momentum is transferred to the surrounding water to achieve turns. Understanding the turning performance of cephalopods, especially squids and cuttlefishes, is timely given their ecological significance and unique body architecture. Not only are squids and cuttlefish abundant and important components of marine ecosystems, but they also represent an unexplored intermediate group in terms of their body rigidity and their use of a novel dual-mode (fins and jet) propulsive system differs markedly from that of other nekton. |