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Sensory Hairs in the Bowhead Whale, B alaena mysticetus (Cetacea, Mammalia)
Author(s) -
Drake Summer E.,
CRISH Samuel D.,
George John C.,
Stimmelmayr Raphaella,
Thewissen J.G.M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the anatomical record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1932-8494
pISSN - 1932-8486
DOI - 10.1002/ar.23163
Subject(s) - anatomy , rostrum , biology , chin , hair follicle , zoology , genus , microbiology and biotechnology
We studied the histology and morphometrics of the hairs of bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ). These whales are hairless except for two patches of more than 300 hairs on the rostral tip of the lower lip and chin, the rostral tip of the upper lip, and a bilateral row of approximately ten hairs caudal to the blowhole. Histological data indicate that hairs in all three of these areas are vibrissae: they show an outermost connective tissue capsule, a circumferential blood sinus system surrounding the hair shaft, and dense innervation to the follicle. Morphometric data were collected on hair diameters, epidermal recess diameters, hair follicle length, and external hair lengths. The main difference between the hairs in the different regions is that blowhole hairs have larger diameters than the hairs in the chin and rostrum regions. We speculate that the hair shaft thickness patterns in bowheads reflect functional specializations. Anat Rec, 298:1327–1335, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.