title: BIOMECHANICS. Why the seahorse tail is square.
abstract: Whereas the predominant shapes of most animal tails are cylindrical, seahorse tails are square prisms. Seahorses use their tails as flexible grasping appendages, in spite of a rigid bony armor that fully encases their bodies. We explore the mechanics of two three-dimensional-printed models that mimic either the natural (square prism) or hypothetical (cylindrical) architecture of a seahorse tail to uncover whether or not the square geometry provides any functional advantages. Our results show that the square prism is more resilient when crushed and provides a mechanism for preserving articulatory organization upon extensive bending and twisting, as compared with its cylindrical counterpart. Thus, the square architecture is better than the circular one in the context of two integrated functions: grasping ability and crushing resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. mmporte@clemson.edu.
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adriaens
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA.
authors.forename: Ross L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hatton
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Meyers
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McKittrick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057005:Bioengineering; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D013623:Tail / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*