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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Role Of California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Hindflippers As Aquatic Control Surfaces For Maneuverability, Ariel M. Leahy, Frank E. Fish, Sarah J. Kerr, Jenifer A. Zeligs, Stefani Skrovan, Kaitlyn L. Cardenas, Megan C. Leftwich Oct 2021

The Role Of California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Hindflippers As Aquatic Control Surfaces For Maneuverability, Ariel M. Leahy, Frank E. Fish, Sarah J. Kerr, Jenifer A. Zeligs, Stefani Skrovan, Kaitlyn L. Cardenas, Megan C. Leftwich

Biology Faculty Publications

California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) are a highly maneuverable species of marine mammal. During uninterrupted, rectilinear swimming, sea lions oscillate their foreflippers to propel themselves forward without aid from the collapsed hindfiippers, which are passively trailed. During maneuvers such as turning and leaping (porpoising), the hindfiippers are spread into a delta-wing configuration. There is little information defining the role of otarrid hindfiippers as aquatic control surfaces. To examine Z. califomianus hindflippers during maneuvering, trained sea lions were video recorded underwater through viewing windows performing porpoising behaviors and banking turns. Porpoising by a trained sea lion was compared with sea lions …


Scaling Of Oscillatory Kinematics And Froude Efficiency In Baleen Whales, William T. Gough, Hayden J. Smith, Matthew S. Savoca, Max F. Czapanskiy, Frank E. Fish, Jean Potvin, K. C. Bierlich, David E. Cade, Jacopo Di Clemente, John Kennedy, Paolo Segre, Andrew Stanworth, Caroline Weir, Jeremy A. Goldbogen Jul 2021

Scaling Of Oscillatory Kinematics And Froude Efficiency In Baleen Whales, William T. Gough, Hayden J. Smith, Matthew S. Savoca, Max F. Czapanskiy, Frank E. Fish, Jean Potvin, K. C. Bierlich, David E. Cade, Jacopo Di Clemente, John Kennedy, Paolo Segre, Andrew Stanworth, Caroline Weir, Jeremy A. Goldbogen

Biology Faculty Publications

High efficiency lunate-tail swimming with high-aspect-ratio lifting surfaces has evolved in many vertebrate lineages, from fish to cetaceans. Baleen whales (Mysticeti) are the largest swimming animals that exhibit this locomotor strategy, and present an ideal study system to examine how morphology and the kinematics of swimming scale to the largest body sizes. We used data from whale-borne inertial sensors coupled with morphometric measurements from aerial drones to calculate the hydrodynamic performance of oscillatory swimming in six baleen whale species ranging in body length from 5 to 25 m (fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus; Bryde's whale, Balaenoptera edeni; sei whale, Balaenoptera borealis; …