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Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter

Although the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a complete aquatic species, spending its entire life in the ocean, it has been considered morphologically to be a semi-aquatic animal. This study aimed to clarify the unique hindlimb morphology and functional adaptations of E. lutris in comparison to other...

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Autores principales: MORI, Kent, SUZUKI, Satoshi, KOYABU, Daisuke, KIMURA, Junpei, HAN, Sung-Yong, ENDO, Hideki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478071/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25715875
http://dx.doi.org/10.1292/jvms.14-0534
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author MORI, Kent
SUZUKI, Satoshi
KOYABU, Daisuke
KIMURA, Junpei
HAN, Sung-Yong
ENDO, Hideki
author_facet MORI, Kent
SUZUKI, Satoshi
KOYABU, Daisuke
KIMURA, Junpei
HAN, Sung-Yong
ENDO, Hideki
author_sort MORI, Kent
collection PubMed
description Although the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a complete aquatic species, spending its entire life in the ocean, it has been considered morphologically to be a semi-aquatic animal. This study aimed to clarify the unique hindlimb morphology and functional adaptations of E. lutris in comparison to other Mustelidae species. We compared muscle mass and bone measurements of five Mustelidae species: the sea otter, Eurasian river otter (Lutra lutra), American mink (Neovison vison), Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi) and Siberian weasel (M. sibirica). In comparison with the other 4 species, E. lutris possessed significantly larger gluteus, popliteus and peroneus muscles, but smaller adductor and ischiopubic muscles. The popliteus muscle may act as a medial rotator of the crus, and the peroneus muscle may act as an abductor of the fifth toe and/or the pronator of the foot. The bundles of the gluteus superficialis muscle of E. lutris were fused with those of the tensor fasciae latae muscle and gluteofemoralis muscles, and they may play a role in femur abduction. These results suggest that E. lutris uses the abducted femur, medially rotated crus, eversion of the ankle and abducted fifth digit or extended interdigital web as a powerful propulsion generator. Therefore, we conclude that E. lutris is a complete aquatic animal, possessing differences in the proportions of the hindlimb muscles compared with those in other semi-aquatic and terrestrial mustelids.
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spelling pubmed-44780712015-06-24 Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter MORI, Kent SUZUKI, Satoshi KOYABU, Daisuke KIMURA, Junpei HAN, Sung-Yong ENDO, Hideki J Vet Med Sci Wildlife Science Although the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a complete aquatic species, spending its entire life in the ocean, it has been considered morphologically to be a semi-aquatic animal. This study aimed to clarify the unique hindlimb morphology and functional adaptations of E. lutris in comparison to other Mustelidae species. We compared muscle mass and bone measurements of five Mustelidae species: the sea otter, Eurasian river otter (Lutra lutra), American mink (Neovison vison), Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi) and Siberian weasel (M. sibirica). In comparison with the other 4 species, E. lutris possessed significantly larger gluteus, popliteus and peroneus muscles, but smaller adductor and ischiopubic muscles. The popliteus muscle may act as a medial rotator of the crus, and the peroneus muscle may act as an abductor of the fifth toe and/or the pronator of the foot. The bundles of the gluteus superficialis muscle of E. lutris were fused with those of the tensor fasciae latae muscle and gluteofemoralis muscles, and they may play a role in femur abduction. These results suggest that E. lutris uses the abducted femur, medially rotated crus, eversion of the ankle and abducted fifth digit or extended interdigital web as a powerful propulsion generator. Therefore, we conclude that E. lutris is a complete aquatic animal, possessing differences in the proportions of the hindlimb muscles compared with those in other semi-aquatic and terrestrial mustelids. The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science 2015-02-09 2015-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4478071/ /pubmed/25715875 http://dx.doi.org/10.1292/jvms.14-0534 Text en ©2015 The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License.
spellingShingle Wildlife Science
MORI, Kent
SUZUKI, Satoshi
KOYABU, Daisuke
KIMURA, Junpei
HAN, Sung-Yong
ENDO, Hideki
Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
title Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
title_full Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
title_fullStr Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
title_full_unstemmed Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
title_short Comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
title_sort comparative functional anatomy of hindlimb muscles and bones with reference to aquatic adaptation of the sea otter
topic Wildlife Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478071/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25715875
http://dx.doi.org/10.1292/jvms.14-0534
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