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First published online April 8, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 1633-1642 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00948

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Strouhal numbers and optimization of swimming by odontocete cetaceans

Jim J. Rohr^1,* and Frank E. Fish²

¹ SSC San Diego, 53560 Hull Street, 211, San Diego, CA 92152, USA
² Department of Biology, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383, USA

View larger version (27K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1 (A) Non-dimensional fluke-beat amplitude, A/L, as a function of length-specific swimming speed, U/L, where A is the peak-to-peak fluke-beat amplitude, L is the body length and U is the swimming speed. (B) Non-dimensional fluke-beat amplitude, A/L, as a function of fluke-beat frequency f (Hz), where A is the peak-to-peak fluke-beat amplitude and L is the body length. Symbols indicate particular cetacean species: Tursiops truncatus (solid red circles), Pseudorca crassidens (open green squares), Orcinus orca (solid blue triangles), Globicephala melaena (blue crosses), Lagenorhynchus obliquidens (solid blue diamonds), Stenella frontalis (open brown diamonds) and Delphinapterus leucas (solid black triangles).

View larger version (15K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Fluke-beat frequency, f (Hz), as a function of length-specific swimming speed, U/L, where L is the body length and U is the swimming speed. Regression equation for all the cetacean data is: y=0.89x+0.59 (r2=0.8, N=267). Symbols indicate particular cetacean species: Tursiops truncatus (solid red circles), Pseudorca crassidens (open green squares), Orcinus orca (solid blue triangles), Globicephala melaena (blue crosses), Lagenorhynchus obliquidens (solid blue diamonds), Stenella frontalis (open brown diamonds) and Delphinapterus leucas (solid black triangles).

View larger version (23K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3 (A) Strouhal number, St, of odontocete cetaceans as a function of body length, L. (B) Strouhal number, St, of odontocete cetaceans as a function of swimming speed, U. Symbols indicate particular species: Tursiops truncatus (solid red circles), Pseudorca crassidens (open green square), Orcinus orca (solid blue triangles), Globicephala melaena (blue crosses), Lagenorhynchus obliquidens (solid blue diamonds) and Stenella frontalis (open brown diamonds).

View larger version (14K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Strouhal number (St) range (± S.D.) for cetaceans.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Histogram of percentage of delphinid cetacean Strouhal number (St) data (n=248); incremental St range is 0.1, incremental step is 0.25.

View larger version (10K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Propulsion efficiency of cetaceans as a function of Strouhal number (St). Colors indicate particular species: Tursiops truncatus (red), Pseudorca crassidens (green), Orcinus orca (blue) and Delphinapterus leucas (black).

View larger version (19K): [in a new window]   Fig. 7. Histogram of percentage of (A) Pseudorca crassidens (n=69), (B) Orcinus orca (n=30), (C) Tursiops truncatus (n=107) and (D) Delphinapterus leucas (n=19) Strouhal number (St) data.

View larger version (25K): [in a new window]   Fig. 8. Non-dimensional fluke-beat amplitude, A/L, as a function of non-dimensional fluke-beat frequency, f/(U/L), where A is the peak-to-peak fluke amplitude, L is the body length, f is the fluke-beat frequency and U is the swimming speed. Contours of constant Strouhal number, St, are included. Symbols indicate particular cetacean species: Tursiops truncatus (solid red circles), Pseudorca crassidens (open green squares), Orcinus orca (solid blue triangles), Globicephala melaena (blue crosses), Lagenorhynchus obliquidens (solid blue diamonds), Stenella frontalis (open brown diamonds) and Delphinapterus leucas (solid black triangles).