title: Sawfishes stealth revealed using computational fluid dynamics.
abstract: Detailed computational fluid dynamics simulations for the rostrum of three species of sawfish (Pristidae) revealed that negligible turbulent flow is generated from all rostra during lateral swipe prey manipulation and swimming. These results suggest that sawfishes are effective stealth hunters that may not be detected by their teleost prey's lateral line sensory system during pursuits. Moreover, during lateral swipes, the rostra were found to induce little velocity into the surrounding fluid. Consistent with previous data of sawfish feeding behaviour, these data indicate that the rostrum is therefore unlikely to be used to stir up the bottom to uncover benthic prey. Whilst swimming with the rostrum inclined at a small angle to the horizontal, the coefficient of drag of the rostrum is relatively low and the coefficient of lift is zero.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Bradney
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: James Cook University, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Smithfield, Qld, 4870, Australia.|Sharks and Rays Australia, P. O. Box 575, Bungalow, Qld, 4870, Australia.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Wueringer
authors.affiliation: Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit, Centre for Fish & Fisheries Research, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, 6150, Australia.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Clausen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D053403:Lateral Line System; D012860:Skates, Fish / Q000502:physiology*; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: CT scan; elasmobranch; lateral swipe; sawfish rostrum; turbulent flow