Spines of the porcupine fish: Structure, composition, and mechanical properties

Su, Frances Y.; Bushong, Eric A.; Deerinck, Thomas J.; Seo, Kyung-Ah; Herrera, Steven; Graeve, Olivia A.; Kisailus, David; Lubarda, Vlado A.; McKittrick, Joanna

doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2017.02.029

Cited by 18 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…2C) to examine the effects of tapering on mechanical properties (Young's modulus, elastic energy storage, second moment of area and flexural stiffness). A tapered cantilever bending test was modified for an irregular cross-sectional shape on an Instron E1000 with a 250 N load cell (Su et al, 2017). A dissection pin was used to apply the point load along the spine at a displacement rate of 0.3 mm s −1 , and all spines were deflected to 10% of their total unpotted length.…”

Section: Materials and Methods Spine Preparation And Mechanical Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2A) was chosen for the following two reasons: (1) we were able to place the dissection pin in a single position within the lateral groove and (2) we could assess spine loading simulating a predator attacking from the side. Common displacement speeds for hard biomaterials range dramatically from 0.003 to 400 mm s −1 (Halstead et al, 1955;Galloway et al, 2016;Su et al, 2017;Summarell et al, 2015;Whitenack and Motta, 2010). We decided to load the mineralized collagenous lionfish spines at a slower speed within this range because there are no previous studies on their mechanical behavior, and testing at faster speeds may have resulted in fracture before we were able to test at other point load locations.…”

Section: Materials and Methods Spine Preparation And Mechanical Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, Young's modulus increases towards the tip of owl feather shafts (Bachmann et al, 2012). The tapered morphology of porcupine fish spines changes the location of maximum stress to the distal end (tip) of the spine, but does not change spine stiffness or toughness (Su et al, 2017). By focusing spine damage toward the distal ends, porcupine fish may conserve the energy required for regrowth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instron BlueHill Software was used to collect force (N) and displacement (mm) data, which were converted into stress (σ, GPa) and strain (ε, %) using tapered beam equations (Eqns 1 and 2; Su et al, 2017):…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beam length is measured as L (mm), the point load is denoted as P (N) and v max is maximum deflection of the beam. All constants are derived in Su et al (2017). Elastic energy storage is the material's ability to absorb energy and to restore the sample to its original shape when the load is removed, and this property can be calculated as the area under the stress-strain curve (Vogel, 2013; Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Mechanical properties of the venomous spines of Pterois volitans and morphology among lionfish species

Galloway

Porter

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The red lionfish, Pterois volitans, an invasive species, has 18 venomous spines: 13 dorsal, three anal and one on each pelvic fin. Fish spines can have several purposes, such as defense, intimidation and anchoring into crevices. Instead of being hollow, lionfish spines have a tri-lobed cross-sectional shape with grooves that deliver the venom, tapering towards the tip. We aimed to quantify the impacts of shape (second moment of area) and tapering on the mechanical properties of the spine. We performed two-point bending at several positions along the spines of P. volitans to determine mechanical properties (Young's modulus, elastic energy storage and flexural stiffness). The short and recurved anal and pelvic spines are stiffer and resist bending more effectively than the long dorsal spines. In addition, mechanical properties differ along the length of the spines, most likely because they are tapered. We hypothesize that the highly bendable dorsal spines are used for intimidation, making the fish look larger. The stiffer and energy-absorbing anal and pelvic spines are smaller and less numerous, but they may be used for protection as they are located near important internal structures such as the swim bladder. Lastly, spine second moment of area varies across the Pterois genus. These data suggest there may be morphological and mechanical trade-offs among defense, protection and intimidation for lionfish spines. Overall, the red lionfish venomous spine shape and mechanics may offer protection and intimidate potential predators, significantly contributing to their invasion success. present I as a hydrated spine property for goals 1 and 2 above. In addition, we treated flexural stiffness (EI) as a hydrated spine property when we multiplied hydrated Young's modulus (E) with dehydrated second moment of area (I ). RESULTSMorphology and mechanical properties of P. volitans 6

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Section: Materials and Methods Spine Preparation And Mechanical Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials and Methods Spine Preparation And Mechanical Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Mechanical properties of the venomous spines of Pterois volitans and morphology among lionfish species

Galloway

Porter

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Escaping the Labyrinth of Bioinspiration: Biodiversity as Key to Successful Product Innovation

Broeckhoven

Plessis

2022

Adv Funct Materials

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Nature provides an infinite source of inspiration for innovative designs that may be required to tackle the social, economic, and environmental challenges the world faces. Despite the surging popularity and prevalence, the discipline of bioinspiration is limited in unleashing its full potential by the inadequate understanding of biological and evolutionary concepts, often leading to suboptimal solutions and a lack of further development toward successful products. Here, the constraints and limitations that pose potential pitfalls for bioinspiration, but are generally overlooked by most practitioners of bioinspiration, are discussed. It is highlighted that an awareness of biodiversity is key to address this issue, and ultimately to the successful application of bioinspiration in general. Furthermore, a practical approach to the analysis of biodiversity information is provided and attention is drawn to opportunities for improving the translation of biological knowledge into innovative solutions. Primary emphasis is placed on direct bioinspired product innovations, though many of the concepts central to the ideas are applicable to the wider domain of bioinspired materials science, chemical, and systems engineering, among others. With this perspective, the guiding thread that will enable to escape the labyrinth of bioinspiration and follow the right track to successful innovation is brought back.

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On the Materials Science of Nature's Arms Race

2018

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Biological material systems have evolved unique combinations of mechanical properties to fulfill their specific function through a series of ingenious designs. Seeking lessons from Nature by replicating the underlying principles of such biological materials offers new promise for creating unique combinations of properties in man-made systems. One case in point is Nature's means of attack and defense. During the long-term evolutionary "arms race," naturally evolved weapons have achieved exceptional mechanical efficiency with a synergy of effective offense and persistence-two characteristics that often tend to be mutually exclusive in many synthetic systems-which may present a notable source of new materials science knowledge and inspiration. This review categorizes Nature's weapons into ten distinct groups, and discusses the unique structural and mechanical designs of each group by taking representative systems as examples. The approach described is to extract the common principles underlying such designs that could be translated into man-made materials. Further, recent advances in replicating the design principles of natural weapons at differing lengthscales in artificial materials, devices and tools to tackle practical problems are revisited, and the challenges associated with biological and bioinspired materials research in terms of both processing and properties are discussed.

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Spines of the porcupine fish: Structure, composition, and mechanical properties

Cited by 18 publications

References 64 publications

Mechanical properties of the venomous spines of Pterois volitans and morphology among lionfish species

Mechanical properties of the venomous spines of Pterois volitans and morphology among lionfish species

Escaping the Labyrinth of Bioinspiration: Biodiversity as Key to Successful Product Innovation

On the Materials Science of Nature's Arms Race

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