Meeting Abstract

S1-2.3  Friday, Jan. 4  Suction feeding mechanics and hydrodynamics in fishes HOLZMAN, Roi; Tel Aviv University holzman@post.tau.ac.il

Predation by fish is a major ecological force in aquatic ecosystems, with fish targeting prey from diverse functional groups and taxonomic affiliations. This remarkable trophic diversity presumably underlies the diversity of skull morphologies and predatory behaviors in fishes. However, making implicit connections between specific aspects of morphology or behavior and their effect on feeding can be difficult. This is because prey capture in fishes is mediated by the viscous medium in which they operate. In such medium, the effects of prey’s and predator’s form and behavior are often non-monotonous and non-intuitive. Recently, an approach emerged that treats the aquatic predator-prey encounter as a hydrodynamic interaction between a solid particle (representing the prey) and the unsteady suction flows around it (produced by the fish). Using first principals and engineering theory, it is possible to integrate the effects of morphology, physiology, skull kinematics, ram, and fluid mechanics on suction feeding performance. I review how this approach, manifested in the Suction Induced Force Field model (SIFF), can be used to study the adaptive significance of prey morphologies, behaviors and sensory abilities. SIFF can also illuminate how different prey types impose different challenges on the predator, and how prey escape response can be modified to maximize prey escape probabilities. Including the hydrodynamic interaction between the suction flows and the prey strengthens the general theory of aquatic predator-prey interactions, and augments our understanding of the evolution of aquatic feeding performance.