Why Your Vacuum Clogs But a Manta Ray Doesn’t
The self-cleaning structures in the animal’s mouth could inspire new designs for human-made filters.
by Ed Yong
Sep 26, 2018
4 minutes
Many years ago, I was snorkeling in warm Pacific waters when I noticed what looked like a spreading ink stain in the water before me. It was faint at first, a barely perceptible sliver of black against the vast backdrop of blue. But it grew and darkened, until it finally resolved into the unmistakable shape of a manta ray. It was several meters wide, from one gracefully beating wing tip to the next. Its head was topped by those distinctive, devilish, paddle-shaped fins. And its meter-wide mouth was, of course, agape.
Agape is pretty much the default setting for a manta ray. As it swims, water is constantly sucked
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