Vivek Nagendra Prakash, University of Miami | CONFINEMENT-INDUCED FLOWS IN CILIATED MARINE LARVAE

Several marine animals have larval stages with complex morphologies and intricate patterns of ciliation. These larvae utilize ciliary beating for swimming and feeding at low Reynolds numbers. The spaceship-shaped sea urchin larva shown above generates a fascinating multi-vortex flow under confinement. Time-lapse images from darkfield microscopy were visualized using Flowtrace, and the pathlines were rendered in blue color. The scale bar is 100 μm. A fundamental understanding of fluid-solid interactions and hydrodynamics are important for bio-inspired robotic applications for the Navy and Air Force. Collaborators: Bikram D. Shrestha, Santhan Chandragiri, Melissa Ruszczyk, Vivek N. Prakash