Skip to main content
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
    • For library administrators
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Experimental Biology
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

supporting biologistsinspiring biology

Journal of Experimental Biology

  • Log in
Advanced search

RSS  Twitter  Facebook  YouTube  

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
    • For library administrators
Research Article
Remoras pick where they stick on blue whales
Brooke E. Flammang, Simone Marras, Erik J. Anderson, Oriol Lehmkuhl, Abhishek Mukherjee, David E. Cade, Michael Beckert, Jason H. Nadler, Guillaume Houzeaux, Mariano Vázquez, Haley E. Amplo, John Calambokidis, Ari S. Friedlaender, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Journal of Experimental Biology 2020 223: jeb226654 doi: 10.1242/jeb.226654 Published 28 October 2020
Brooke E. Flammang
1Federated Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Brooke E. Flammang
  • For correspondence: flammang@njit.edu
Simone Marras
2Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
3Center for Applied Mathematics and Statistics, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Erik J. Anderson
4Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (Guest Investigator), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
5Department of Mechanical Engineering, Grove City College, Grove City, PA 16127, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Oriol Lehmkuhl
6Department of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Abhishek Mukherjee
2Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
David E. Cade
7Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
8Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 15 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95003, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Michael Beckert
9Advanced Concepts Research Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
10Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting, 3350 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1125, Atlanta, GA 30326, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jason H. Nadler
9Advanced Concepts Research Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Guillaume Houzeaux
6Department of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Mariano Vázquez
6Department of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Haley E. Amplo
1Federated Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
John Calambokidis
11Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA 98501, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ari S. Friedlaender
8Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 15 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95003, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jeremy A. Goldbogen
7Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & tables
  • Supp info
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF + SI
  • PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

Animal-borne video recordings from blue whales in the open ocean show that remoras preferentially adhere to specific regions on the surface of the whale. Using empirical and computational fluid dynamics analyses, we show that remora attachment was specific to regions of separating flow and wakes caused by surface features on the whale. Adhesion at these locations offers remoras drag reduction of up to 71–84% compared with the freestream. Remoras were observed to move freely along the surface of the whale using skimming and sliding behaviors. Skimming provided drag reduction as high as 50–72% at some locations for some remora sizes, but little to none was available in regions where few to no remoras were observed. Experimental work suggests that the Venturi effect may help remoras stay near the whale while skimming. Understanding the flow environment around a swimming blue whale will inform the placement of biosensor tags to increase attachment time for extended ecological monitoring.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests

    The authors declare no competing or financial interests.

  • Author contributions

    Conceptualization: B.E.F.; Methodology: B.E.F., S.M., O.L., E.J.A., D.E.C., J.C., A.S.F., J.A.G.; Software: G.H., M.V., D.E.C. Formal analysis: B.E.F., S.M., O.L., E.J.A., A.M., D.E.C. Investigation: B.E.F., S.M., O.L., E.J.A., M.B., J.H.N.; Resources: O.L., E.J.A., G.H., M.V., J.C., A.S.F., J.A.G.; Data curation: D.E.C., H.E.A.; Writing - original draft: B.E.F., S.M.; Writing - review & editing: B.E.F., S.M., O.L., E.J.A., D.E.C., M.B., J.H.N., H.E.A., J.C., A.S.F., J.A.G.; Visualization: B.E.F., O.L., E.J.A., A.M.; Supervision: B.E.F.; Project administration: B.E.F.; Funding acquisition: B.E.F., S.M., E.J.A., J.A.G.

  • Funding

    Financial support was provided by Stanford University and a Terman Fellowship to J.A.G., the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Spain (ref. TRA2017-88508-R) to O.L., a grant from the Grove City College Swezey Fund to E.J.A., and New Jersey Institute of Technology to B.E.F. Additional support for tagging and filming operations came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the BBC. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center awarded access to the MareNostrum IV machine (Barcelona, Spain).

  • Supplementary information

    Supplementary information available online at https://jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.226654.supplemental

  • Received April 9, 2020.
  • Accepted September 7, 2020.
  • © 2020. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
http://www.biologists.com/user-licence-1-1/
View Full Text

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Log in through your institution

You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your library if you do not have a username and password.
If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.

Pay Per Article - You may access this article (from the computer you are currently using) for 1 day for US$30.00 .

Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article purchase if your access period has not yet expired.

Previous ArticleNext Article
Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

This Issue

Keywords

  • Adhesion
  • Echeneidae
  • Biologging tag
  • Drag
  • Boundary layer

 Download PDF

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Experimental Biology.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Remoras pick where they stick on blue whales
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Experimental Biology
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Experimental Biology web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Research Article
Remoras pick where they stick on blue whales
Brooke E. Flammang, Simone Marras, Erik J. Anderson, Oriol Lehmkuhl, Abhishek Mukherjee, David E. Cade, Michael Beckert, Jason H. Nadler, Guillaume Houzeaux, Mariano Vázquez, Haley E. Amplo, John Calambokidis, Ari S. Friedlaender, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Journal of Experimental Biology 2020 223: jeb226654 doi: 10.1242/jeb.226654 Published 28 October 2020
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Research Article
Remoras pick where they stick on blue whales
Brooke E. Flammang, Simone Marras, Erik J. Anderson, Oriol Lehmkuhl, Abhishek Mukherjee, David E. Cade, Michael Beckert, Jason H. Nadler, Guillaume Houzeaux, Mariano Vázquez, Haley E. Amplo, John Calambokidis, Ari S. Friedlaender, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Journal of Experimental Biology 2020 223: jeb226654 doi: 10.1242/jeb.226654 Published 28 October 2020

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Alerts

Please log in to add an alert for this article.

Sign in to email alerts with your email address

Article navigation

  • Top
  • Article
    • ABSTRACT
    • INTRODUCTION
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • Acknowledgements
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & tables
  • Supp info
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF + SI
  • PDF

Related articles

Cited by...

More in this TOC section

  • Unexpected lack of specialisation in the flow properties of spitting cobra venom
  • Responses of Manduca sexta larvae to heat waves
  • Heat hardening in a pair of Anolis lizards: constraints, dynamics and ecological consequences
Show more RESEARCH ARTICLE

Similar articles

Subject collections

  • Comparative biomechanics of movement

Other journals from The Company of Biologists

Development

Journal of Cell Science

Disease Models & Mechanisms

Biology Open

Advertisement

Predicting the Future: Species Survival in a Changing World

Read our new special issue exploring the significant role of experimental biology in assessing and predicting the susceptibility or resilience of species to future, human-induced environmental change.


Big Biology Podcast - Hollie Putnam and coral bleaching

Catch the next JEB-sponsored episode of the Big Biology Podcast where Art and Marty talk to Hollie Putnam about the causes of coral bleaching and the basic biology of corals in the hope of selectively breeding corals that can better tolerate future ocean conditions.

Read Hollie's Review on the subject, which is featured in our current special issue. 


Stark trade-offs and elegant solutions in arthropod visual systems

Many elegant eye specializations that evolved in response to visual challenges continue to be discovered. A new Review by Meece et al. summarises exciting solutions evolved by insects and other arthropods in response to specific visual challenges.


Head bobbing gives pigeons a sense of perspective

Pigeons might look goofy with their head-bobbing walk, but it turns out that the ungainly head manoeuvre allows the birds to judge distance.

Articles

  • Accepted manuscripts
  • Issue in progress
  • Latest complete issue
  • Issue archive
  • Archive by article type
  • Special issues
  • Subject collections
  • Interviews
  • Sign up for alerts

About us

  • About JEB
  • Editors and Board
  • Editor biographies
  • Travelling Fellowships
  • Grants and funding
  • Journal Meetings
  • Workshops
  • The Company of Biologists
  • Journal news

For Authors

  • Submit a manuscript
  • Aims and scope
  • Presubmission enquiries
  • Article types
  • Manuscript preparation
  • Cover suggestions
  • Editorial process
  • Promoting your paper
  • Open Access
  • Outstanding paper prize
  • Biology Open transfer

Journal Info

  • Journal policies
  • Rights and permissions
  • Media policies
  • Reviewer guide
  • Sign up for alerts

Contact

  • Contact JEB
  • Subscriptions
  • Advertising
  • Feedback

 Twitter   YouTube   LinkedIn

© 2021   The Company of Biologists Ltd   Registered Charity 277992