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Living and fossil scallop shells as airfoils: an experimental study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Itaru Hayami
Itaru Hayami*
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
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Abstract

Selected shell specimens of extant and fossil streamlined pectinids, which have or presumably had level-swimming ability, were examined experimentally to elucidate their hydrodynamic properties, in particular, airfoil efficiency estimated by lift-drag ratio. Using a stationary water tank for nautical engineering, lift and drag forces were measured at various attack angles. Of the examined species, Amusium japonicum, which is characterized by an unusually shiny surface, upward-cambered commissure and sharpened trailing edge, is the most efficient level swimmer and has the lowest drag coefficient and the highest value of lift-drag ratio at any attack angle. Amussiopecten praesignis from the Plio-Pleistocene may have swum horizontally because its airfoil efficiency is superior to that of a living level swimmer, Placopecten magellanicus. Although its shell shape is analogous to that of Placopecten, Camptonectes (Maclearnia) cinctus from the Lower Cretaceous shows a much inferior efficiency and a significant flow separation from the surface. Bernoulli's effect in convex-upward species may contribute to increase lift, but a certain attack angle is always required for level flight. The strategy of level swimming probably evolved independently in several pectinacean lineages in which swimming rather than shell robustness became the preferred defense against predators. One problem that must be solved is that some feedback mechanism is required to check pitching, rolling, and yawing of the shell to attain stability in level flight.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , Winter 1991 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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