Functional Morphology and Fluid Interactions During Early Development of the Scyphomedusa Aurelia aurita
Abstract
Scyphomedusae undergo a predictable ontogenetic transition from a conserved, universal larval form to a diverse array of adult morphologies. This transition entails a change in bell morphology from a highly discontinuous ephyral form, with deep clefts separating eight discrete lappets, to a continuous solid umbrella-like adult form. We used a combination of kinematic, modeling, and flow visualization techniques to examine the function of the medusan bell throughout the developmental changes of the scyphomedusa Aurelia aurita. We found that flow around swimming ephyrae and their lappets was relatively viscous (1 < Re < 10) and, as a result, ephyral lappets were surrounded by thick, overlapping boundary layers that occluded flow through the gaps between lappets. As medusae grew, their fluid environment became increasingly influenced by inertial forces (10 < Re < 10,000) and, simultaneously, clefts between the lappets were replaced by organic tissue. Hence, although the bell undergoes a structural transition from discontinuous (lappets with gaps) to continuous (solid bell) surfaces during development, all developmental stages maintain functionally continuous paddling surfaces. This developmental pattern enables ephyrae to efficiently allocate tissue to bell diameter increase via lappet growth, while minimizing tissue allocation to inter-lappet spaces that maintain paddle function due to boundary layer overlap.
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Ephyrae continue to grow into mature medusae that swim at Re_m > 100.
“Ephyrae continue to grow into the mature medusae that swim at Re m > 100 [21, 17].”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
Juvenile jellyfish, or ephyrae, break off from polyps swimming at Re greater than 5.
“Juvenile jellyfish, or ephyrae, break off from polyps swimming at Re greater than 5.”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
Ephyrae break off from polyps and swim at Re_m > 1.
“In jellyfish, ephyrae break off from polyps and swim at Re m > 1 [17].”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
Flow visualization studies suggest that there is little flow through the clefts due to viscous effects at these low Re.
“Flow visualization studies [30, 17] suggest that there is little flow through the clefts due to viscous effects at these low Re .”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
A paddling-type mechanism of swimming is also used by the ephyrae.
“A paddlingtype mechanism of swimming is also used by the ephyrae.”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
Although the ephyral form is a discontinuous surface with deep clefts, viscous effects prevent flow between the lappets and create a hydrodynamically continuous surface.
“Although the ephyral form is a discontinuous surface with deep clefts, viscous effects prevent flow between the lappets and create a hydrodynamically continuous surface [30, 17].”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
A reasonable range of Re for ephyrae is between 16 and 45.
“we find that a reasonable range of Re for the ephyrae is between 16 and 45.”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
Feitl et al. [17] visualized the flow around free swimming ephyrae.
“Feitl et al. [17] visualized the flow around free swimming ephyrae.”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
Feitl et al. [17] note that viscous forces predominate and describe how circulating vortices are not created in the wake.
“They note that predominance of viscous forces and describe how circulating vortices are not created in the wake.”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [17]
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Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish
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Yoder, N. K., & Dabiri, J. O. (2026) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.14491
“Aurelia aurita , or moon jellies, in particular, have been used as a representative organism in a variety of studies due to their global availability [11] and wide range of relevant Reynolds numbers at which they are observed to swim throughout their lifecycles, i.e. 1 Re 10 4 [12].”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Feitl, K. E., Millett, A. F., Colin, S. P., Dabiri, J. O., & Costello, J. H.
- Affiliations
- Providence College (US)
- Roger Williams University (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Venue
- The Biological Bulletin
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2009-12
- Volume
- 217
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 283-291
- ISSN
- 0006-3185 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-8697
- OpenAlex
- W2134493558
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Roger Williams University - Digital Commons (Roger Williams University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows
- Keywords
- Aurelia aurita, scyphomedusae, ephyrae, lappets, functional morphology, fluid-structure interaction, boundary layer, viscous flow, inertial flow, swimming kinematics, flow visualization
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Animal Structures, Scyphozoa
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