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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science
2015
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4478071 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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