Phenotypic plasticity in juvenile jellyfish medusae facilitates effective animal fluid interaction
Open accessAbstract
Locomotion and feeding in marine animals are intimately linked to the flow dynamics created by specialized body parts. This interaction is of particular importance during ontogeny, when changes in behaviour and scale challenge the organism with shifts in fluid regimes and altered functionality. Previous studies have indicated that Scyphozoan jellyfish ontogeny accommodates the changes in fluid dynamics associated with increasing body dimensions and velocities during development. However, in addition to scale and behaviour that-to a certain degree-underlie the control of the animal, flow dynamics are also dependent on external factors such as temperature. Here, we show phenotypic plasticity in juvenile Aurelia aurita medusae, where morphogenesis is adapted to altered fluid regimes imposed by changes in ambient temperature. In particular, differential proportional growth was found to compensate for temperature-dependent changes in viscous effects, enabling the animal to use adhering water boundary layers as 'paddles'-and thus economize tissue-at low temperatures, while switching to tissue-dominated propulsion at higher temperatures where the boundary layer thickness is insufficient to serve for paddling. This effect was predicted by a model of animal-fluid interaction and confirmed empirically by flow-field visualization and assays of propulsion efficiency.
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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 [30]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says viscous boundary layers can overlap between lappets, adding paddle surface to the star-like ephyral form. But the Fluid boundary layer overlap section (page unavailable) reports that overlap depends on conditions: ephyrae raised at 13°C lost fluid-webbing when swimming at 21°C. The claim omits that qualification. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA 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 [30]
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 [30]
Nawroth et al. [30] found that the ephyrae of Aurelia aurita travel 0.5 - 1 body length per pulsation cycle, which is higher than the swimming speeds measured for the model ephyrae.
“Nawroth et al. [30] found that the ephyrae of Aurelia aurita travel 0.5 - 1 body length per pulsation cycle, which is higher than the swimming speeds measured for the model ephyrae.”
From Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish (2011) · cites this paper as [30]
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Reynolds number limits for jet propulsion: a numerical study of simplified jellyfish
Herschlag, G., & Miller, L. (2011) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.05.035 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nawroth, J. C., Feitl, K. E., Colin, S. P., Costello, J. H., & Dabiri, J. O.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Providence College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nawroth, J. C.
- Venue
- Biology Letters
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2010-03-24
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 389-393
- ISSN
- 1744-9561 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-957X
- PMC
- PMC2880069
- OpenAlex
- W2089140075
- Cited by
- 50
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biology Letters (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Roger Williams University - Digital Commons (Roger Williams University) (submittedVersion)
- 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 › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Keywords
- phenotypic plasticity, Aurelia aurita, temperature effects, viscosity effects, boundary layer, paddling, propulsive efficiency, morphogenesis, proportional growth, flow dynamics, jellyfish locomotion
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biomechanical Phenomena, Models, Biological, Morphogenesis, Phenotype, Swimming, Temperature, Viscosity, Scyphozoa
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