{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T09:16:44Z","timestamp":1760347004215,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,12]],"date-time":"2021-04-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1618185600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["FR3429\/3-1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FR3429\/3-1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["FR3429\/4-1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FR3429\/4-1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments","award":["Cluster of Excellence \u2018cfaed\u2019 EXC 1036"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Cluster of Excellence \u2018cfaed\u2019 EXC 1036"]}]},{"name":"Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments","award":["Cluster of Excellence \u2018Physics of Life\u2019 EXC 2068"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Cluster of Excellence \u2018Physics of Life\u2019 EXC 2068"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.ploscompbiol.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Comput Biol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sperm of marine invertebrates have to find eggs cells in the ocean. Turbulent flows mix sperm and egg cells up to the millimeter scale; below this, active swimming and chemotaxis become important. Previous work addressed either turbulent mixing or chemotaxis in still water. Here, we present a general theory of sperm chemotaxis inside the smallest eddies of turbulent flow, where signaling molecules released by egg cells are spread into thin concentration filaments. Sperm cells \u2018surf\u2019 along these filaments towards the egg. External flows make filaments longer, but also thinner. These opposing effects set an optimal flow strength. The optimum predicted by our theory matches flow measurements in shallow coastal waters. Our theory quantitatively agrees with two previous fertilization experiments in Taylor-Couette chambers and provides a mechanistic understanding of these early experiments. \u2018Surfing along concentration filaments\u2019 could be a paradigm for navigation in complex environments in the presence of turbulent flow.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1008826","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,12]],"date-time":"2021-04-12T17:22:16Z","timestamp":1618248136000},"page":"e1008826","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Sperm chemotaxis in marine species is optimal at physiological flow rates according theory of filament 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