The pumps with which organisms move fluids span nearly a ten-million-fold pressure range. As in human technology, positive displacement pumps (osmotic, valve-and-chamber, peristaltic, etc.) are used for high-pressure applications and fluid dynamic pumps (using hydrofoils, cilia, aspirators, etc.) for low pressures. But while pressure capability or system resistance dichotomizes pumps by operative mechanism, the values of a dimensionless pressure-flow index prove more relevant to their biological roles; this index is a ratio of overall pressure drop in the system to pressure drop due to viscous resistance to flow.