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Cetacean anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). It can be contrasted with cetacean physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of cetaceans function together in these living marine mammals. In practice, cetacean anatomy and cetacean physiology complement each other, the former dealing with the structure of a cetacean, its organs or component parts and how they are put together, such as might be observed on the dissecting table or under the microscope, and the latter dealing with how those components function together in the living marine mammal.

The anatomy of cetaceans have common characteristics with other terrestrial mammals, and, in addition, is often shaped by the physical characteristics of aquatic living, the medium in which these mammals live. Water is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs more light than air does.

Body

Skeleton Skull

The skull of all cetaceans is extended, which can be clearly seen in baleen whales. The nostrils are located on top of the head above the eyes. The back of the skull is significantly shortened and deformed. By shifting the nostrils to the top of the head, the nasal passages extend perpendicularly through the skull. The teeth or baleen in the upper jaw sit exclusively on the maxilla. The braincase is concentrated through the nasal passage to the front and is correspondingly higher, with individual cranial bones that overlap. The bony otic capsule, the petrosal, is only cartilaginous when connected to the skull, so that it can swing independently.

Vertebrae

The number of vertebrae that make up the spine varies between species, anywhere between 40 and 93 individual vertebrae. The cervical spine, found in all mammals, consists of seven vertebrae which, however, are greatly reduced or fused together. This gives stability during swimming at the expense of mobility. The fins are carried by the thoracic vertebrae, ranging from 9 to 17 individual vertebrae. The sternum is only cartilaginous, but nonetheless strong. The last two to three pairs of ribs are not connected at all and hang freely in the body wall. Behind it is the stable lumbar and tail part of the spine which includes all other vertebrae. Below the caudal vertebrae is the chevron bone; the vortex developed provides additional attachment points for the tail musculature.

Limbs

The front limbs are paddle-shaped with shortened arms and elongated finger bones, to support the movement. They are united by cartilage. It also leads to a proliferation of the finger members, a so-called hyperphalangy, on the second and third fingers. The only functional joint is the shoulder joint in all cetaceans except for the Amazon river dolphin. The collarbone is completely absent. The movement of cetaceans on land is no longer necessary nor possible, due to the great body weight and the atrophied hindlimbs. In fact the rear limbs have become a rudimentary internal appendage without connections to the spine.

External organs Jaw

The jaws of toothed whales are designed for catching swift prey. Porpoises have spade-shaped teeth, but dolphins have conical teeth. Cetaceans are monophydonts, meaning they have one set of teeth their entire life. Toothed whales use their jaw to recieve pulses for echolocation. Echoes are received using complex fatty structures around the lower jaw as the primary reception path, from where they are transmitted to the middle ear via a continuous fat body. Lateral sound may be received though fatty lobes surrounding the ears with a similar density to water. Some researchers believe that when they approach the object of interest, they protect themselves against the louder echo by quieting the emitted sound. This is known to happen in bats, but here the hearing sensitivity is also reduced close to a target.

As opposed to toothed whales, baleen whales have different jaw designs depending on their feeding behaviour. Lunge-feeders, like rorquals, have to expand their jaw to a volume that can be bigger than the whale itself; to do this, the oral cavity inflates to expand the mouth. The inflation of the oral cavity causes the cavum ventrale, the folds (throat pleats) on the throat stretching to the naval, to expand, increasing the amount of water that the mouth can store. The mandible is connected to the skull by dense fibers and cartilage, allowing the jaw to swing open at almost a 90° angle. The mandibular symphysis is also fibrocartilaginous, allowing the jaw to bend which lets in more water. To prevent stretching the mouth too far, rorquals have a sensory organ located in the middle of the jaw to regulate these functions. Gulp-feeders, like right whales, on the other hand swim with an open mouth, filling it with water and prey. This makes their head, which can make up a third of their body weight, huge in order to feed effectively. Not able to expand their mouth like rorquals, right whales must have a head that is large enough to take in enough water and food to feed effectively, carrying their bulk all the time.

Beaked whales have a somewhat similar jaw anatomy as rorquals. The throats of beaked whales have a bilaterally paired set of grooves that are associated with their unique feeding mechanism, suction feeding. Instead of capturing prey with their teeth, beaked whales suck it into their oral cavity. Suction is aided by the throat grooves, which stretch and expand to accommodate food. Their tongue can move very freely. By suddenly retracting the tongue and distending the gular (throat) floor, pressure immediately drops within the mouth sucking the prey in with the water.

Eyes The whale eye is relatively small for its size, yet they do retain a good degree of eyesight. As well as this, the eyes of a whale are placed on the sides of its head, so their vision consists of two fields, rather than a binocular view like humans have. When belugas surface, their lens and cornea correct the nearsightedness that results from the refraction of light; they contain both rod and cone cells, meaning they can see in both dim and bright light, but they have far more rod cells than they do cone cells. Whales do, however, lack short wavelength sensitive visual pigments in their cone cells indicating a more limited capacity for colour vision than most mammals. Most whales have slightly flattened eyeballs, enlarged pupils (which shrink as they surface to prevent damage), slightly flattened corneas and a tapetum lucidum; these adaptations allow for large amounts of light to pass through the eye and, therefore, a very clear image of the surrounding area. In water, a whale can see around 10.7 m ahead of itself, but, of course, they have a smaller range above water. They also have glands on the eyelids and outer corneal layer that act as protection for the cornea. Toothed whales can retract and protrude its eyes thanks to a 2-cm-thick retractor muscle attached around the eye at the equator.

Blowhole

The blowhole is the hole at the top of a whale's head through which the animal breathes air. When a whale reaches the water surface to breathe, they will forcefully expel air through the blowhole. Mucus and carbon dioxide from the animal's metabolism, which have been stored in the whale while diving, are also expelled. The exhalation is released into the comparably lower-pressure and colder atmosphere, so any water vapor condenses. This spray, known as the blow, is often visible from far away as a white splash, which can also be caused by water resting on top of the blowhole. Baleen whales have two blowholes, causing a V-shaped blow, while toothed whales have only one blowhole. The trachea only connects to the blowhole and there is no connection to the esophagus as with humans and most other mammals. Because of this, there is no risk of food accidentally ending up in the animal's lungs, and likewise the animal cannot breathe through its mouth. Consequently, whales have no pharyngeal reflex.

Skin

Fins

Internal organs

Intestines The small intestines is divided into three sections: the duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum. The mesentery is thin in baleen whales. The caecum is present in all whales with the exception of the Amazon river dolphins and the right whales, however it is relatively short in baleen whales. The appendix is absent in all cetaceans.

Stomach In most whales, food is swallowed and travels down through the esophagus where it meets a three-chambered-stomach. The first compartment is known as the fore-stomach; this is where food gets ground up into an acidic liquid, which is then squirted into the main stomach. Like in humans, the food is mixed with hydrochloric acid and protein-digesting enzymes. Then, the partly digested food is moved into the third stomach, in which fat-digesting enzymes, and then mixed with an alkaline liquid to neutralize the acid from the first stomach to prevent damage to the intestinal tract. Once the solution is safe, it is moved into the intestinal tract.

Kidneys Whale kidneys are specially designed for excreting excess salt content. Water is typically gained by the food they eat, however, the invertebrates they consume have the same salt content as seawater. As in other vertebrates, whale salt levels are three times less than that of seawater. However, the kidneys are inefficient at retaining water, and expel much of it while excreting salt.

Spleen Liver The liver in whales is bilobed, as opposed to the five-lobed liver in humans, and they lack a gall bladder. Toothed whales have one bile duct and baleen whales have two. Like other mammals, the liver is located in the right side of the body, just below the diaphragm.

Heart

Swim bladder Weberian apparatus

Reproductive organs Testes Ovaries
 * La peinture de l'Embryon d'un Marsouins (Painting of the embryo of a Porpoise) - from The natural history of marine fish to strange with real peincture & description Daulphin, and several others of his species observed by Pierre Belon du Mans.

Nervous system Central nervous system Cerebellum Identified neurons Immune system

See also


 * Anatomical terms of location
 * Mammal anatomy

References

Further reading