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Swimming Of Pelagic Snails: Kinematics And Fluid Dynamics, Ferhat Karakas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pteropods (also known as sea butterflies or sea angels), are holoplanktonic marine snails which swim by flapping a pair of extremely flexible wings. The wings are modified from the molluscan foot and the wing motions are supported by the fluid pressure without any rigid support. Sea angels (gymnosome pteropods) are completely naked; in contrast, sea butterflies (thecosome pteropods) have negatively buoyant aragonite shells which vary in geometry and size among different species. Pteropods are seasonally abundant in the ocean, and an important food source for the other zooplanktons, fishes, and whales. Though studies have been conducted regarding their biology, ecology, …