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Pinnniped Vibrissae

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Summary of “Effect of Angle on Flow-Induced Vibrations of Pinniped Vibrissae” * In the article “Effect of Angle on Flow-Induced Vibrations of Pinniped Vibrissae,” there are two types of epidermal keratinous structures which upon introduction to water flow manipulate the way the vibrissae behave: undulated and smooth. These vibrissae exist among pinnipeds: the furrowed undulated structure which exhibits among the majority of true seals (with the exception of the bearded and monk seals) and the smooth structures that are shared with fur seals, sea lions, and walruses. Completely unique to the pinnipeds, investigators at the time were uncertain of their relevance. The scientists hypothesized that detecting waterborne vibrations with the vibrissae may lead to the knowledge of environmental disturbances, relative to the aquatic flow. The overall goal was to see if the directionality and influence of water flow would have any effect on the vibrations of both the smooth and undulated …show more content…

Essentially it is stating that these structures have a great advantage for detecting underwater disturbances if there is no degree difference of the whisker verse the directionality of the vibration. However, this study only takes into account the angle and association of post-mortem samples. Since the extensive research was not conducted on live samples aside from briefly videotaping some species of pinniped, it is unclear if there is a distinct difference in functionality between the undulated and smooth vibrissae. Furthermore, another downfall of the similarity of not finding a formidable function of undulated vibrissae as the research states is that there is no clear advantage in efforts of noise reduction or vibration sensitivity. Their findings may be important for future research to possibly find morphological differences in vibrissae to access their complete

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