Salvelinus confluentus (Suckley, 1859)

Bull trout

Species recognized by FishBase external link, R Froese & D Pauly (eds) in 
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU) external link Showing: scientific names

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Salvelinus confluentus (Suckley, 1859)

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Energy boost from vortices: bull trout

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©2008-2009, The Biomimicry Institute. Some rights reserved external link
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Bodies of fish decrease energy required for locomotion by using vortices.

   
  "Researchers are studying how fish use surrounding vortices to provide an energy boost. Vortices can come from other fish or stationary objects. Conventional wind turbines need a steady wind, so use of eddies would require a new design. Vortices in water alternately spin clockwise and counter-clockwise. Similarly, a wind turbine that uses eddies caused by buildings would need to be able to adjust to varying angles. Dabiri has developed prototypes for both air and water. While they may produce less energy than a wind turbine, they can work over a longer period so the net energy produced per year should be similar." (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)

"Aquatic animals swimming in isolation and in groups are known to extract energy from the vortices in environmental flows, significantly reducing muscle activity required for locomotion. A model for the vortex dynamics associated with this phenomenon is developed, showing that the energy extraction mechanism can be described by simple criteria governing the kinematics of the vortices relative to the body in the flow. In this way, we need not make direct appeal to the fluid dynamics, which can be more difficult to evaluate than the kinematics. Examples of these principles as exhibited in swimming fish and existing energy conversion devices are described. A benefit of the developed framework is that the potentially infinite-dimensional parameter space of the fluid–structure interaction is reduced to a maximum of eight combinations of three parameters. The model may potentially aid in the design and evaluation of unsteady aero- and hydrodynamic energy conversion systems that surpass the Betz efficiency limit of steady fluid dynamic energy conversion systems." (Dabiri 2007:L1)

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"Fishes moving through turbulent flows or in formation are regularly exposed to vortices. Although animals living in fluid environments commonly capture energy from vortices, experimental data on the hydrodynamics and neural control of interactions between fish and vortices are lacking. We used quantitative flow visualization and electromyography to show that trout will adopt a novel mode of locomotion to slalom in between experimentally generated vortices by activating only their anterior axial muscles. Reduced muscle activity during vortex exploitation compared with the activity of fishes engaged in undulatory swimming suggests a decrease in the cost of locomotion and provides a mechanism to understand the patterns of fish distributions in schools and riverine environments." (Liao et al. 2003:1566)
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References
  • Dabiri, J. O. 2007. Renewable fluid dynamic energy derived from aquatic animal locomotion. BIOINSPIRATION AND BIOMIMETICS. 2(3): 1.
  • Liao, J. C.; Beal, D. N.; Lauder, G. V.; Triantafyllou, M. S. 2003. Fish Exploiting Vortices Decrease Muscle Activity. Science. 302(5650): 1566.

Biology

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Rainer Froese external link
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Occurs in deep pools of large cold rivers and lakes (Ref. 5723). Most common in high mountainous areas where snowfields and glaciers are present (Ref. 5723). Rarely anadromous (Ref. 5723). Lacustrine form matures in lakes and spawns in tributaries, where young reside for one to three years (Ref. 10367).
References
"Salvelinus confluentus (Suckley, 1859)". Encyclopedia of Life, available from "http://www.eol.org/pages/216468". Accessed 21 Mar 2010.