Emergent flow asymmetries from the metachronal paddling of gossamer worm parapodia

Metachronal waves are ubiquitous in propulsive and fluid transport systems across many different scales and morphologies in the biological world. Tomopterids, or gossamer worms, are soft-bodied, holopelagic polychaetes that use metachrony with their flexible, gelatinous parapodia to deftly navigate the midwater ocean column that they inhabit. In the following study, we develop a three-dimensional, computational, fluid–structure interaction model of a tomopterid parapodium to explore the emergent metachronal waves formed from the interplay of passive body elasticity, active muscular tension, and hydro- dynamic forces. Using this fluid-structure interaction modeling framework, we will examine the role that the interplay of body elasticity, wave speed, resonance, and tension play in the resulting vortex structures and fluid transport due to their collective motion. Preliminary work will be shown including a flexible body as a base structure for the parapodia.