Natures wonders: sucker fish hitches a useful ride (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, February 27, 2020, 22:48 (1520 days ago) @ David Turell

They attach mainly to sharks and eat host feces:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remora

But it is their sucker which is so interesting:

https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/this-fish-is-a-sucker-but-no-fool?utm_source=Cosmos+...

" The unique remora fish (order Carangiformes) – appropriately also known as the suckerfish or sharksucker – has such a powerful suction disc on its head that it can stay attached even to fast-moving sharks and leaping dolphins.

"Chinese scientists have now discovered how it works and, with colleagues in the US, have started adapting the same approach for use in robots.

"A team led by Li Wen of Beihang University looked into the tissue on the soft lip of the remora’s disc and found a unique structure: vertically oriented collagen fibres that provide elasticity for maximising contact with substrates and decrease the deformation of the lip to maintain its adhesive force.

"Inspired, they engineered a biomimetic disc infused with vertical nylon fibres with electrostatic flocking, a technique that utilises an electric charge to align fibres. "

Comment: as usual evolution produces new ideas for us to use. How did this develop? Not trial and error. It had to be designed.