Using robotics and physics to understand the evolution of novel functional morphologies

Remoras are fishes that attach to other swimming organisms via an adhesive disc evolved from dorsal fin elements. However, the factors driving the evolution of remora disc morphology are poorly understood. Fortunately, the fundamental physics of suction and friction are mechanically conserved through time. Using a morphologically relevant bioinspired remora disc, we experimentally investigated the performance of hypothetical evolutionary intermediates. Herein, we translated fundamental biological principles into engineering design rules and show that a passive model system can autonomously achieve adhesive forces measured in live remoras in any environment. Our experimental results show that an increase in lamellar number resulted in an increase in shear adhesive performance, supporting the phylogenetic trend observed in extant remoras. The greatest pull-off forces measured for our model were on surface roughness on the order of shark skin and exceeded those measured for live remoras attached to shark skin by almost 60%. Overall, relative to fossil remoras and their closest ancestor, extant remoras exhibit a morphology indicative of selection for enhanced shear adhesive performance.