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Performance limits of labriform propulsion and correlates with fin shape and motion

Jeffrey A. Walker^1,* and Mark W. Westneat²

¹ Department of Biology, University of Southern Maine, 96 Falmouth Street, Portland, ME 04103, USA and
² Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA

View larger version (78K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Morphometrics of fin shape. (A) Landmarks used to compute fin area. (B) Spans, S1=S6, measured as the length from the base of the fin ray to the tip of the fin rays. (C) Curved chords. The area of the elements, ej, bounded by the chords was used to estimate the moments of area.

View larger version (12K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Distribution of composite functional shape variables. (A) Aspect ratio of the pectoral fin. (B) First canonical variate of size-standardized span data. (C) First standardized moment of area (relative distance of center of fin area from fin base) of the pectoral fins. Value in are means ±2 S.E.M. The species represented by filled circles are ‘flappers’ while the species represented by open circles are ‘rowers.’ Sample sizes, N, are given in Table 1.

View larger version (14K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Span and chord distributions of the pectoral fin. (A) Mean of spans are standardized by the square root of fin area. The spans are ordered (1–6) from leading to trailing edge. (B) Means of curved chords standardized by mean curved chord. The chords are ordered (1–5) from proximal to distal. Value are means ±1 S.E.M. The species represented by filled circles are ‘flappers’ and the species represented by open circles are ‘rowers’. Sample sizes, N, are given in Table 1.

View larger version (20K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. (A–D) Kinematic changes with swimming speed in four labrid species. Each box-and-whisker plot represents the distribution of the variable for the species. The median of the distribution is represented by the line within the box. The 25th and 75th percentiles are represented by the top and bottom box edges, respectively. The 10th and 90th percentile are represented by the top and bottom caps on the vertical lines (whiskers) outside the box, respectively. If the sample is too small for a box plot, each measurement is simply represented by a square box. The numbers of individuals, Ni, and sequences, Ns, were as follows: Gomphosus varius, Ni=3, Ns=29; Halichoeres bivittatus, Ni=5, Ns=69; Cirrhilabrus rubripinnis, Ni=6, Ns=69; Pseudocheilinus octotaenia, Ni=4, Ns=34). TL, total fish length.

View larger version (15K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. (A) Critical swimming speed, Ucrit, and (B) maximum pectoral-fin-powered speed, Up-max, for the individuals of the four labrid species.