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Filter feeding in devil rays is highly sensitive to morphology
Shirel R Kahane-Rapport1,2, Julia Teeple2, James C Liao3
1Old Dominion University, 5115 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|January 21, 2025
Summary
Mobulid rays filter plankton using specialized pores. Filter lobe orientation, not pore size, significantly impacts filtration efficiency and flow patterns, informing bioinspired designs.
Area of Science:
- Biomimetics
- Fluid Dynamics
- Marine Biology
Background:
- Mobulid rays (manta and devil rays) possess unique filter-feeding apparatuses.
- Microscale pores in mobulid filters generate captive vortices, enhancing filtration via ricochet separation.
- This efficient, clog-resistant system has inspired bioinspired engineered filtration technologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how variations in mobulid filter morphology affect flow patterns and filtration efficiency.
- To understand the relationship between pore size, filter lobe orientation, and filtration performance.
Main Methods:
- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were employed to analyze flow fields.
- Experiments were conducted using physical models of mobulid filters with systematically varied morphologies.
Main Results:
- Captive vortices within the pores adapt to pore size, showing modest effects of pore size variation on filtration.
- Filtration efficiency was found to be highly sensitive to the orientation of the filter lobes (microscale plate-like structures).
Conclusions:
- Filter lobe orientation is a critical factor in mobulid ray filtration efficiency, more so than pore size.
- Findings provide insights into species-specific morphological adaptations and guide the optimization of bioinspired filtration systems.
