Kane Emily A, Garner Austin M, Yadav Shubham, Hume L Ann, Pesacreta Tom
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, USA.
Department of Biology & BioInspired Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Mar 5;12(3):241965. doi: 10.1098/rsos.241965. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Harsh environments, such as those with breaking waves and turbulent flows, present extreme challenges to organismal survival. Many animals exploiting these habitats possess adaptations to maintain position under dynamic flow conditions, such as reversible or permanent attachment systems. However, some station-holding fishes (e.g. sculpins) instead rely on morphological and behavioural modifications of their pectoral fins to increase friction with the substrate and combat drag. Despite epidermal microstructures on the fins of other benthic fishes, little exploration of pectoral fin surfaces at the microscopic scale has been undertaken in sculpins. Using scanning electron microscopy, we discovered microscopic, fibrillar projections contained within single cells on the ventral surfaces of the paired fin rays of two intertidal and two subtidal species of marine sculpins. In contrast to subtidal species, the intertidal species possessed epidermal cells with discrete channels separating groups of fibrillar projections. These features bear a striking resemblance to epidermal microstructures described in other fishes but have distinct morphological differences. We suggest the hypothesis that these previously overlooked features contribute to sculpin station-holding performance via enhanced mechanical interactions with the substrate, suggesting new taxa within which to explore potential mechanisms of underwater friction enhancement and adhesion.
恶劣的环境，如存在破浪和湍流的环境，对生物的生存构成了极大的挑战。许多利用这些栖息地的动物都具有适应能力，以便在动态水流条件下保持自身位置，例如可逆或永久性的附着系统。然而，一些栖息不动的鱼类（如杜父鱼）则依靠胸鳍的形态和行为变化来增加与底物的摩擦力并对抗阻力。尽管其他底栖鱼类的鳍上存在表皮微观结构，但在杜父鱼中，很少有人在微观尺度上对胸鳍表面进行研究。通过扫描电子显微镜，我们在两种潮间带和两种潮下带的海洋杜父鱼的成对鳍条腹面上发现了单个细胞内包含的微观纤维状突起。与潮下带物种不同，潮间带物种的表皮细胞具有离散的通道，将纤维状突起群分隔开来。这些特征与其他鱼类中描述的表皮微观结构惊人地相似，但在形态上有明显差异。我们提出了一个假设，即这些先前被忽视的特征通过增强与底物的机械相互作用，有助于杜父鱼的栖息不动性能，这表明可以在新的分类群中探索水下摩擦力增强和附着力的潜在机制。
