

“The study of natural materials can lead to the creation of new and unique materials and structures inspired by nature that are stronger, tougher, lighter and more flexible,” says McKittrick, a professor of materials science at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.


“The tail is the seahorse’s lifeline,” because it allows the animal to anchor itself to corals or seaweed and hide from predators, says Michael Porter, a graduate student in materials science at the Jacobs School of Engineering. “But no one has looked at the seahorse’s tail and bones as a source of armor.”

Most of the seahorse’s predators, including sea turtles, crabs, and birds, capture the animals by crushing them. Engineers wanted to see if the plates in the tail act as an armor. Researchers took segments from seahorses’ tails and compressed them from different angles. They found that the tail could be compressed by nearly 50% of its original width before permanent damage occurred. That’s because the connective tissue between the tail’s bony plates and the tail muscles bore most of the load from the displacement. Even when the tail was compressed by as much as 60%, the seahorse’s spinal column was protected from permanent damage.

McKittrick and Meyers’ research group uses a unique technique that applies a series of chemicals to materials to strip them of either their protein components or their mineral components. That allows them to better study materials’ structures and properties. After treating the bony plates in the seahorse’s tail with the chemicals, they discovered that the percentage of minerals in the plates was relatively low—40%, compared to 65% in cow bone. The plates also contained 27% organic compounds—mostly proteins—and 33% water. The hardness of the plates varied. The ridges were hardest, likely for impact protection—about 40% harder than the plate’s grooves, which are porous and absorb energy from impacts.


“Everything in biology comes down to structures,” Porter says.


Source: University of California, San Diego