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Boundary effects on currents around ciliated larvae

Nature Physics volume 13, pages 520–521 (2017)Cite this article

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To the Editor —

Gilpin et al. described cilia-driven vortices around starfish larvae and discussed their relevance for swimming and feeding1. For free-swimming organisms, such as starfish larvae, these vortices are beguiling artefacts. This effect has been studied directly by others: in short, eddies often noted around ciliated organisms are usually due to the hydrodynamical influence of nearby boundaries; vortices arise within the confines of small chambers, but enlarge and disappear as boundaries recede2,3,4,5.

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Figure 1: Vortices around ciliated larvae are a function of nearby boundaries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Charleston, 97420, Oregon, USA

    George von Dassow & Richard Emlet

  2. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington, USA

    Daniel Grünbaum

Authors
  1. George von Dassow
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  2. Richard Emlet
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  3. Daniel Grünbaum
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Correspondence to George von Dassow.

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von Dassow, G., Emlet, R. & Grünbaum, D. Boundary effects on currents around ciliated larvae. Nature Phys 13, 520–521 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4154

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