Effects of stomach stones on the buoyancy and equilibrium of a floating crocodilian: a computational analysis

Abstract

A three-dimensional mathematical/computational model of the crocodilian Alligator mississippiensis has been developed to investigate the influence of gastroliths on crocodilian buoyancy. The model is self-correcting, recovers from large perturbations, and can replicate the body orientations and degrees of immersion seen in living crocodilians that have attained equilibrium with respect to the competing forces of buoyancy and weight. For a range of lung deflations where the model was still positively buoyant, adding gastroliths of mass equal to 1% of the body mass has the effect of lowering the body, on average, by 2.6% of the maximum trunk depth while simultaneously increasing the inclination of the body with its sagittal plane. With the lungs fully inflated, the model would become negatively buoyant only when loaded with stones weighing more than 6% of the total body mass. Without gastroliths the body would sink when the lungs were deflated by 40%–50%. In all situations the model was resistant to capsizing. The relatively small amounts of gastroliths (<2% body mass) found in aquatic tetrapods are considered to be inconsequential for buoyancy and stability, and the lungs are the principle agent for hydrostatic buoyancy control.