![]() Overall, this study shows how the unique cranial kinematics in seahorses are manifested in their suction-feeding performance, and highlights the trade-offs associated with their unique morphology and mechanics. Within seahorses, increases in snout length were associated with slower suction flows and faster head rotation speeds, resulting in a trade-off between pivot feeding and suction feeding. However, the spatial patterns retain the conserved actinopterygian characteristics, where suction flows impact a radially symmetric region of ∼1 gape diameter outside the mouth. Using flow visualization experiments, we show that seahorses generate suction flows that are 8 times faster than those of similar-sized fish, and that the temporal patterns of cranial kinematics and suction flows in seahorses differ from the conserved pattern observed across other actinopterygians. However, it is unclear how the dynamics of suction flows in seahorses differ from the conserved pattern observed across other actinopterygians, or how differences in snout length across seahorses affect these flows. This mechanism allows seahorses to achieve head rotation speeds that are 50 times faster than those of fish lacking such a mechanism. Seahorses, which have reduced swimming muscles, evolved a unique mechanism for elastic energy storage that powers their suction flows. Suction feeding is a power-hungry behavior, involving the actuation of cranial muscles as well as the anterior third of the fish's swimming muscles. Suction feeding is a dominant prey-capture strategy across actinopterygians, consisting of a rapid expansion of the mouth cavity that drives a flow of water containing the prey into the mouth.
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