2025/06/28 by S. D. Arnette, Cassandra M. Donatelli, Jack Rosen +2 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Engineering · #Adhesion #Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions #Cephalopods and Marine Biology #Composite material #Computer science #Engineering #Flow (mathematics) #Marine Biology and Environmental Chemistry #Materials science #Mechanical engineering #Mechanics #Physics #Suction #Suction cup
paper · doi:10.1093/icb/icaf120
openalex publication_date 2025/06/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Structures specialized for adherence, such as suction cups, toe pads, barbs, and hooks, are abundant in nature. Many of these structures function well passively and are reversible, making them potent inspiration for biomimetic technology. However, the biological aspect of how these structures are used by animals in nature is often ignored or abstracted, even though active input by the animal often improves the structure's adhesive performance. The northern clingfish, Gobiesox maeandricus, is a common animal model for bio-inspired suction cups because it performs well where standard cups cannot, such as dry, rough, and fouled surfaces. Here, we investigated whether suction performance is actively modulated in response to increasing flow speeds using a dynamic experimental design. We compared maximum suction pressures, maximum suction forces, and detachment speeds between live and euthanized clingfish. We found that both living and euthanized individuals increase suction in response to faster flows, but that live animals increased their suction to a greater extent, suggesting both behavioral and morphological components contribute to suction performance. Our results indicate that active modulation improves aspects of suction performance, making them important to consider for advancing bio-inspired design applications.