(a) Mean curvature, in units of 1/R_ve, along the surface of axisymmetric prolate vesicles for eight values of v ranging from 0.65 to 0.72 in increments of 0.01. The arc length s goes from s = –1 corresponding to the south pole to s = 1 corresponding to the north pole, with s = 0 corresponding to the equator. For v ≲ 0.72, there are two lines of lowest mean curvature, a finite distance away from the equator. (b) The location of the lowest mean curvature line (black dotted lines) on the vesicle, for three different values of v.