Liquid Life Lab

Alexa Cesari

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Caitlyn Swiston

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Sarah Kerr

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Danielle Adams

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​Danielle (Dani) Adams started as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab in 2014. She was later hired as the Lab Technician and was a graduate student in the lab. She reviewed the swimming speeds of various fishes as part of an Office of Naval Research MURI grant to examine the importance of flexibility in natural oscillatory propulsive systems. Dani is standing in front of her test rig to examine the stiffness of cetacean flukes (above). She received her master's degree in the spring of 2018. Her thesis was on the structure of tendons in the peduncle of cetaceans and their use in actively controlling the stiffness of the flukes.  

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Abigail Downs ​​​​​

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Abigail Downs started in the lab the summer of 2018. She continued in the graduate accelerated program. She worked on the kinematics of tuna.

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Ariel Leahy 

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Ariel Leahy was a graduate student, who researched the biomechanics of sea lions and pinnipeds.

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Kaitlyn Cardenas​​​

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Kaitlyn Cardenas was an undergraduate research assistant in the lab. She collected data on sea lion swimming and is currently working on modeling spin leaps by cetaceans of different morphologies. Her interests were toward an eventual career in dentistry, which explains the sperm whale tooth that she is holding.

Katherine (Kate) Riordan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Katherine (Kate) Riordan was an undergraduate research assistant in the lab. The the summer of 2018, she did an internship at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, working on the structural mechanics of the legs of crabs. She started an independent project at WCU on locomotion of crabs.

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Erin Larsen

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Erin Larsen volunteered in the lab on two projects. One project was to determine the hydrodynamic position of remoras on sharks. The other was to examine the hydrodynamics of the dorsal fin of porpoises. 

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Brigid Supple

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Brigid Supple was an undergraduate research assistant, who has been examining the locomotion of sea lions. She became an expert in the use of the motion analysis software Proanalyst. She is pictured here with Wally the Gator.

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Piper Gauthier

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​Piper Gauthier started in the lab in 2016 and has been working on the morphological design of the humpback whale flukes. During the summer, she was investigating elephant physiology in Thailand.

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Kelsey Tennett

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Kelsey Tennett joined the lab in 2014 and was a graduate student. She completed her Master's Thesis on the terrestrial locomotion of elephant seals in 2017. Later, Kelsey was employed by West Chester University in the Office of Sustainability.

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Will Gough

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will Gough graduated from Cornell University (2014) in Animal Science and was a graduate student completing his Master's Thesis on the mechanical properties of the Cetacean tail fluke. Will served as a TA at the Shoals Marine Laboratory for the Anatomy and Function of Marine Vertebrates course over the past two years. Above, Will learned that when collecting data on dolphin swimming, the animals will amuse themselves by splashing researchers who get too close to the tank. Will completed his Master's thesis in 2017 on the structure and architecture of collagen fiber in the flukes of cetaceans. He is currently working on his Ph.D. with Jeremy Goldbogen at Stanford University.

 

Erin Gallagher

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Erin Gallagher started in the summer of 2016. She has been measuring the flexibility of the flukes of dolphins from videos of animals at Sea World. She learned to do three-dimensional scanning (above). Erin also had an internship on sea turtles in Florida.

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Ramya Muthukrishnan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ramya Muthukrishnan was a high school student, who volunteered to work in the laboratory. She examined the flexibility of the flukes of adult and neonate humpback whales. This examination was based on underwater video that was taken in the Cook Islands with the cooperation of Nan Hauser of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation.

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Christina Gorlinsky

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​Christina Gorlinsky (graduate student, 2001) attempting to induce a frog to perform a high dive to analyze how cleanly it enters the water depending on jump height. Christina examined the swimming kinematics of the South American giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) at the Philadelphia Zoo.

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Tricia Kojeszewski

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Graduate student Tricia Kojeszewski (2001, foreground) recording frog diving with Christina Gorlinsky (background). Tricia finished her Master's thesis on the kinematics of swimming by the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris). Her work showed that the manatee swam by undulation of the body and tail in a subcarangiform mode. The vertical movement of the tail tip was 22% of the body length with other points along the body moving vertically with smaller amplitudes over the propulsive cycle (below). Despite the structure of the tail and and normally slow swimming speed, the manatee has a maximum propulsive efficiency of 0.82. Tricia also showed that manatees, whose flukes were damaged by propeller strikes, had reduced locomotor performance.

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The illustration on the left shows a manatee (A), CT scans through the center of the tail (B) and through the fluke blade (C), and three-dimensional reconstructions from CT scans performed at the Computerized Scanning and Imaging Facility of Woods Hole. The figure on the right shows the digitized reference points on a manatee that were analyzed from video of swimming animals. The position of the points along the longitudinal axis (horizontal line) and vertical excursion of the points throughout a stroke cycle (vertical lines) are indicated.

 

Kojeszewski, T. and Fish, F. E. 2007. Swimming kinematics of the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris): Hydrodynamic analysis of an undulatory mammalian swimmer. Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 2411-2418. pdf

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Lori Shannahan

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Lori Shannahan (1997) performed her research at the New Jersey State Aquarium, examining the mechanism by which sharks maintain trim. Lori found that the pectoral fins were canted at a positive angle of attack to ambient water flow. This alignment of the fins provided a positive torque to balance the upward torque developed by the caudal fin as the shark swam. Fish, F. E. and Shannahan, L. D. 2000. The role of the pectoral fins in the body trim of sharks. Journal of Fish Biology 56: 1062-1073. pdf

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Christopher Cuppels​​

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Christopher Cuppels examined the planforms of the flippers, flukes, and dorsal fins different species of odontocete cetaceans as an independent study project. The planforms shown are for Globicephala melaena (Gm), Tursiops truncatus (Tt), Stenella coeruleoalba (Sc), Grampus griseus (Gg), and Phocoena phocoena (Pp). Christopher also had an internship at the Philadelphia Zoo. 

  

Rhyan Grech

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Rhyan Grech feeding a Golden Lion Tamarin in the tropical rainforest exhibit as part of her internship at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Terrye Aigeldinger

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Terrye Aigeldinger (1992) performed experiments on hydroplaning in mallard ducklings. Rapid escape behavior by mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos) is restricted to burst swimming at the water surface. Maximum speed may be limited due to the pattern of waves created as the duckling's body moves through the water (hull speed). Terrye was able to show that ducklings were able to perform a maximum burst speed of 1.73 m/s which was four times greater than the hull speed. At burst velocities, stroke frequency was 1.9 times higher than the stroke frequency measured during steady low speed paddling. Transition to burst speeds from steady paddling occurred near hull speed. The paddling motions of the webbed feet were used to generate both thrust and lift as seen by the vortex pattern of the duckling shown above. By using lift to raise the body above the water surface, the influence of waves in restricting maximum swimming speed is negated. The duckling's body becomes a planing type of hull and skims on the water surface.

 

Aigeldinger, T. L., and Fish, F. E. 1995. Hydroplaning by ducklings: Overcoming limitations to swimming at the water surface. Journal of Experimental Biology, 198: 1567-1574. pdf

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Jan Battle

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Jan Battle (1992) studied the hydrodynamic morphology of the flipper of the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). The flippers had cross-sectional geometries similar to engineered symmetrical foils (below). The flippers display protuberances along the leading edge of the flippers. These protuberances or tubercles show a sinusoidal geometry that can modify the flow over the flipper's surface and delay stall. The delayed stall allows the flippers to be used to make tighter turns when foraging.

 

Fish, F. E. and Battle, J. M. 1995. Hydrodynamic design of the humpback whale flipper. Journal of Morphology, 225: 51-60. pdf

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Jennifer Smelstoys

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Jennifer Smelstoys studied the buoyancy of fur associated with semi-aquatic mammals. The pelts of sea otters, beaver, muskrat, Australian water rat, platypus, and mink were compared to the white rat and opossum. Jennifer found that the density of hair was correlated with the buoyancy, which was attributed to the volume of air entrapped in the fur. The highest buoyancy was found for the sea otter, which had the greatest number of hairs for a given area.

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Fish, F. E., Smelstoys, J., Baudinette, R. V. and Reynolds, P. S. 2002. Fur doesn't fly, it floats: buoyancy of hair in semi-aquatic mammals. Aquatic Mammals 28.2: 103-112. pdf

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After finishing her degree at WCU, Jennifer went on t veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Jennifer (Jen) Maresh

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​Jennifer Maresh analyzed the turning maneuvers of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) foraging on fish in Sarasota Bay, Florida. The work was performed in cooperation with Douglas Nowacek of Florida State University, and Stephanie Nowacek and Randall Wells of the Mote Marine Laboratory. The foraging movements of the dolphins were videotaped from overhead using a remotely-controlled camera suspended from a helium-filled aerostat, which was tethered to an observation vessel. Dolphins could capture fish by moving the rostrum through small radius turns (mean- 0.20 body lengths; maximum- 0.08 body lengths) at a mean rate of turn of 561.6 deg/sec (maximum- 1,372.0 deg/sec). During the maneuver, dolphins rolled 90 degrees onto their side and flexed the body ventrally. 

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Maresh, J. L., Fish, F. E., Nowacek, D. P. and Nowacek, S. M. 2004. High performance turning capabilities during foraging by bottlenose dolphins. Marine Mammal Science 20(3): 498-509. pdf

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After finishing her degree at WCU, Jennifer went on to Duke University for her master's and then to a Ph.D program at the University of California Santa Cruz, working on marine mammals. She received her Ph.D. (2014) for work on the energetics of elephant seal swimming.​​

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John Peacock

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John Peacock (2000) served as a doctor in the U.S. Navy, where he worked on diving physiology. John studied the morphology of dolphins in relation to pitch control during active swimming. From video, points on dolphins were digitized (below) to detail the changes in amplitude along the body. Position of control surfaces (flippers, flukes) and phasing of the body regions during dorso-ventral body oscillations minimized pitching movements in the anterior region of the body.

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Fish, F. E., Peacock, J. E., and Rohr, J. J. 2003. Stabilization mechanism in swimming odontocete cetaceans by phased movements. Marine Mammal Science 19(3): 515-528. pdf

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After finishing his degree at WCU, John went to medical school and then returned to the U.S. Navy as a doctor. He is now in private practice. 

 

Moira Nusbaum

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​Moira Nusbaum (2005) was involved with the examination of the three dimensional geometry of biological control surfaces (i.e., fins, flippers, flukes). She examined CT scans of cetacean flukes to determine the cross-sectional design and how it might relate to lift and thrust production. From this work, a study of the cross sectional geometry of cetaceans flukes while being bent was initiated. When flukes were bent at 45 and 90 degrees as in swimming dolphins, the normally symmetrical cross-section was changed into a cambered cross-section. To measure the amount of cambering and flexure of the flukes, a Camber Index was developed, which is the ratio of the chord line to the camber line. Chordwise bending occurred close to the central axis of the tail (i.e., between the two lateral flukes) and decreased distally. 

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Fish, F. E., Nusbaum, M. K., Beneski, J. T., and Ketten, D. R. 2006. Passive cambering and flexible propulsors: cetacean flukes. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics 1: S42-S48. pdf

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After finishing her degree at WCU, Moira went on to veterinary school.

 

Sandy Bostic

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Sandy Bostic (2005) performed experiments to study the kinematics of the death roll of alligators. The death roll is used by crocodilians to subdue and dismember prey. Spinning is initiated after the fore- and hind limbs are appressed against the side of the body and the head and tail are canted at an angle to the longitudinal body axis. 

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Fish, F. E., Bostic, S. A., Nicastro, A. J. and Beneski, J. T. 2007. Death roll of the alligator: mechanics of twist feeding in water. Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 2811-2818. pdf

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After finishing her degree at WCU, Sandy went on to veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania. 

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Mariela Muniz

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​Mariela Muniz was involved with the analysis of the three-dimensional geometry of biological control surfaces (i.e., flippers, flukes, fins). The geometry of these structures was determined from CT scan images, which were collected at the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

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Taylor Black

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Taylor Black examined the swimming of woodchucks. Although woodchucks are noted for traveling on land and burrowing, they are capable of swimming. These rodents use a modified quadrupedal, terrestrial gait when swimming. Taylor also did an internship at the Philadelphia Zoo. 

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Lori Timm

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​Lori Timm (graduate student) is shown with a stranded minke whale. The necropsy of the whale was performed at the Pathology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School at the New Bolton Center. After finishing her master's at WCU, Lori went on to a Ph.D. program on marine mammals at Texas A&M University.

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For her graduate research, Lori examined the hydrodynamics of the flow through the shark nose. As the nasal apparatus is a blind cavity, Lori wanted to find out how the nasal capsule was ventilated. Lori used a combination of techniques including morphometrics, gross dissection, dye injection in a flow tank and medical imaging with computer tomography (CT) scans. She was able to find that internal and external flaps direct the flow smoothly through the capsule from incurrent to excurrent nostrils. Her research has application in understanding the olfactory ecology of different shark species and in biomimetics for engineering of artificial noses. Her work was published in:

 

Timm, L. L. and Fish, F. E. 2012. A comparative morphological study of the olfactory cavities of sharks inhabiting benthic and pelagic environments. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 414-415: 74-84.

 

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Sections throughout the nasal apparatus of the sharks Galeocerdo cuvier (A) and Scyliorhinus retifer (B). The features of the nasal apparatus are indicated as the olfactory cavity (OC), anterior nasal valve (ANV), posterior nasal valve (PNV), nasal valve (NV), and the lamellae (L). 

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After receiving her master's degree from WCU, Lori went to Texas A&M University, where she received her Ph.D. for work on marine mammals.

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Jana Parson

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Jana Parson examined the maneuverability of stingrays from the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland. She made comparisons in the turning performance of rays that swim by oscillation (flapping) of the wing-like pectoral fins or by undulation of the fins. Jana received her degree at WCU and went on to veterinary school at the University of Guelph.

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Rays can move along any of six degrees of freedom, which include three translational movements (surge, heave and slip) and three rotational movements (roll, yaw and pitch). Jana examined yawing maneuvers by rays.

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Cownose rays use oscillatory movements (flapping) of the enlarged pectoral fins to propel themselves through the water. The fins are used also as control surfaces to enable yawing turns, which as accompanied with asymmetrical movements of the fins and a rolling or banking maneuver. These motions are seen in the above sequence from video images. Numbers in the top left of each image indicates time in seconds.

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Parson, J., Fish, F. E., and Nicastro, A. J. 2011. Turning performance in batoid rays: Limitations of a rigid body. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology an Ecology 402: 12-18.

(doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2011.03.010).

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Brittany (Fredericks) Coughlin

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​Brittany (Fredericks) Coughlin (2005) examined the underwater locomotion of the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey. The hippo is negatively buoyant and uses a modified terrestrial gait as it moves along the bottom. Despite the hippo's immense size, it has no difficulty traveling on the bottom. The movements of the hippo allude to locomoting in a microgravity environment. Brittany went on to do graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh. ​

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Coughlin, B. L. and Fish, F. E. 2009. Underwater locomotion of the hippopotamus: reduced gravity movements for a massive mammal. Journal of Mammalogy 90(3): 675-679. pdf

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Beth Schuelkens

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Beth Schuelkens performed a comparative study of the three-dimensional geometry of flippers of marine mammals, including the Florida manatee, dolphins, sea lions, and seals. Using images from computer tomography (CT) scans, Beth analyzed the geometry with respect to hydrodynamic performance.

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Sara Farjo

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Sara Farjo (2005), holding a model of a minke whale flipper, worked on the differences in the planar geometry of whale and dolphin flippers.​​

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Rachel Nichols

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Rachel Nichols was a graduate student (2009), who examined the kinematics of swimming rays and function of the tail of rays. Her work focused on the distribution of sensory structures in the tail. 

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Rachel made a number of presentations of her research at the meetings of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (2011), Sigma Xi Research Symposium at St. Joseph's University (2011), and the Office of Naval Research MURI program (2010).

 

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Penny is Rachel's dog and the official lab pet. Here Penny is making detailed observations on the swimming motions of a freshwater ray.

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Rachel spent two weeks in the summer of 2011 as a TA in the course Anatomy and Function of Marine Vertebrates at the Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island, Maine. This picture was taken at the end of the course as Jennifer Garrett (right) arrived to start her research on seal locomotion. After receiving a master's degree at WCU, Rachel went into a Ph.D. program at the University of Rhode Island.

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Carly Ginter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Carly Ginter (2009) was researching the morphology and function of micro-tubercules in marine mammals, including the wavy design of phocid seal vibrissae and leading dge tubercles on the dorsal fin of harbor porpoises. The wavy profile of the vibrissae (below) may passively modify the flow of water around the vibrissae to reduce vibrations created by drag. A decrease in the vibrations due to ambient environmental noise could make the vibrissae more sensitive to other flow stimuli such as the water flow patterns from vortex trails left by swimming prey. 

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Ginter, C. C., Fish, F. E. and Marshall, C. D. 2010. Morphological analysis of the bumpy profile of phocid vibrissae. Marine Mammal Science 26(3): 733-743. pdf​

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Carly performed work on the microtuercles of the dorsal fin of harbor porpoises. These small bumps are located along the dorsal part of the fins leading edge. These structures, which are only found in certain species of the family Phocoenidae, may interact with the air-water interface as the porpoise comes to the surface to breathe. This may help to reduce noise or surface disturbance. Carly went on for a master's degree at Texas A&M University working on marine mammals. 

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In 2009, the students of the Liquid Life Lab attended the meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Boston and made a side trip to the New England Aquarium (above). From left to right: Frank Fish, Jana Parson, Carly Ginter, Elizabeth Barchi and Rachel Nichols. There was also time to tour the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University (below). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Barchi

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Elizabeth Barchi (2009) performed 3-dimensional reconstructions from CT scans of whale flippers and batoid fishes. She is shown above in 2010 with other students of the Liquid Life Lab, including (from left to right) Rachel Nichols, Janet Fontanella, and Jessica Hoffman. Elizabeth graduated from WCU to go on to Hershey Medical School.

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Michael Scott

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Michael Scott started working in the laboratory in the spring of 2009. He investigated the morphometrics of CT scan slices for batoid rays. Michael went on to medical school at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Andrew Bloch

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Andrew Bloch has been in charge of fish husbandry in the lab since the fall of 2009. He is also involved with the kinematic analysis of ray swimming. Andrew also started a project to investigate the structure and morphology of cetacean flukes.

 

Jessica Hoffman

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Jessica Hoffman was a graduate student (2009) studying the response of swimming batoids to physical perturbations. She exposed different species of rays to waves to detail the behavioral and kinematic response. 

 

​Janet Fontanella

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Janet Fontanella worked on a study of the hydrodynamic design of narwhal flukes based on CT scans. This work is in collaboration with Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature, Darlene Ketten of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Martin Nweeia of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She became a member of the team examining ray swimming kinematics in the spring of 2010. After graduating from WCU, she was hired as the laboratory assistant for the Liquid Life Lab.

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Reconstructed CT scans of narwhal flukes. The image of flukes on the left is from a female narwhal and the flukes on the right are from a male. The male flukes show less sweepback than the flukes of the female. There are additional differences in the cross-sectional geometry of the flukes. The differences in the three-dimensional geometry of the flukes is associated with the swimming behaviors of the narwhals. Janet's study of narwhal fluke morphology was the basis of the cover of Marine Mammal Science (below), which published the article:

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Fontanella, J. E., Fish, F. E., Rybczynski, N., Nweeia, M. T. and Ketten, D. R. 2011. Three-dimensional geometry of the narwhal (Monodon monoceros) flukes in relation to hydrodynamics. Marine Mammal Science 27(4): 889-898.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Janet won the Best Student Poster at the WCU All Science Poster Session 2012 (above) for her poster "Batoid Out of Hell: Hydrodynamic Geometry of Rays Related to Swimming Mode".

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Jennifer Garrett

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Jennifer Garrett was a graduate student (2010), who assisted with the kinematic analysis of manta ray swimming. She was interested in the biomechanics of movement by pinnipeds. Above, Jennifer dissected a juvenile harbor seal carcass to examine the muscles of the fore and hind flippers.

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As part of her research, Jennifer examined locomotion in seals in natural settings. Here she video recorded seals on Duck Island in Maine (above). Recordings were made as the seals moved along the rocky terrain during low tide as they moved into the water (below).

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After finishing her master's degree at WCU, Jennifer went on to veterinary school at the Ohio State University. Her work for her master's thesis will be published in the journal Marine Mammal Science under the title "Kinematics of terrestrial locomotion in harbor seals and grey seals: Importance of spinal flexion by amphibious phocids."​​​

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Molly Gabler-Smith

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Molly Gabler-Smith (2010) volunteered in the laboratory and she dissected batoid rays to examine their musculature. Molly learned how to collect data on the kinematics of swimming by rays. She was in a Master's program (2011) in which she examined the muscle structure of batoid rays. She assisted with studying the wake structure of swimming rays using a digital particle image velocity (DPIV) system (below) as part of a project funded by the Office of Naval Research to understand the swimming of batoid fishes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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​Molly and Kyle Chadwick, University of Virginia mechanical engineering undergraduate, examined a section of ray muscle under a dissecting microscope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Molly won First Place for graduate students in the West Chester University All-Sciences Poster Session (2013) for the Master's research on the musculature of batoids. After finishing her master's degree at WCU, Molly went on to a Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Later, she published a paper with Dr. Fish on the pectoral fin muscle of batoids.

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Gabler-Smith, Molly & Coughlin, David & Fish, Frank. (2022). Morphological and histochemical characterization of the pectoral fin muscle of batoids. Journal of morphology. 284. 10.1002/jmor.21548.

 

Nicole DiNenno

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Nicole NiNenno was an undergraduate student, who joined the lab in 2012. She performed statistical analysis on the morphology of batoids. She also analyzed the kinematics of the dog-paddle on dogs freely swimming. Her poster presentation won First Place for undergraduates at the West Chester University All-Sciences Poster Session (2013). After finishing her degree at WCU, Nicole went on to veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Griffin Lewis

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Griffin Lewis finished his senior year at WCU (2012) and was researching the swimming performance of cetaceans.

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Jill Hammill

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Jill Hammill (2013) was a graduate student pictured here with Wally, who was working on the morphology of the flippers of harbor seals. 

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Eve Fontanella 

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Eve Fontanella (2013), on the left, joined the team studying batoids in the Liquid Life Lab. She received her bachelor's and master's from West Chester University. Above, she is measuring the body density of a ray along with her sister Janet. Eve went on to veterinary school at Iowa State University.​​

 

Angela Rivera​

 

 

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Angela Rivera is a postdoc, who started in the lab in 2013. Angie received her Ph.D. from Clemson University, where she worked on turtle locomotion. She plans to continue that work by analyzing the morphometrics and hydrodynamics of sea turtles.​​​​​​​