[Animals] Scientific discovery: size helps marine animals swim

[#Wittels-]

Academics at the University of Bristol, UK, found that size is important in overcoming excess water resistance and claimed that it helped extinct long-necked marine reptiles swim.

The British university article was published in the journal Communications Biology

 

Scientists at the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom, discovered that the size of the body of aquatic animals is more important than its shape in overcoming the excess resistance of the water, and ensured that this helped long-necked extinct marine reptiles to swim. , states an article published in the journal Communications Biology.

This study showed that large bodies "help to overcome the excess resistance produced by extreme morphology", discrediting the idea that there is an optimal body shape for low resistance, reported the AFP agency.

In turn, another finding from the research shows that the large necks of extinct elasmosaurs added extra strength, but this was offset by the evolution of large bodies.

Tetrapods - four-limbed vertebrates - have repeatedly returned to the oceans over the past 250 million years, and they come in many shapes and sizes, from streamlined modern whales over 80 feet long to extinct plesiosaurs, with four fins and extraordinarily long necks. long.

 

Likewise, both dolphins and ichthyosaurs have similar shapes, adapted to move quickly through the water with little resistance or drag.

 

Until now, it was unclear how shape and size influence the energy demands for swimming in these various marine animals.

"To test our hypotheses, we created various 3D models and performed computer flow simulations of plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and cetaceans. They are performed on the computer, but they are like experiments with water tanks," said paleobiologist Susana Gutarra Díaz, from the Escuela of Earth Sciences in Bristol and the National History Museum in London, who led the research.

"We showed that although plesiosaurs experienced more drag than ichthyosaurs or whales of equal mass due to their unique body shape, these differences were relatively minor," said Dr Colin Palmer, an engineer involved in the project. .

"We found that when size is taken into account, the differences between the groups became much smaller than the differences in shape," he continued.

Finally, Palmer concluded that the ratio of body length to diameter, which is widely used to classify these aquatic animals as more or less efficient, "is not a good indicator of low endurance."

 

Link: https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/202204/590924-cientificos-animales-marinos-nadar-mar-oceano-ciencia.html