Microstructure and innervation of the mystacial vibrissal follicle‐sinus complex in bearded seals, <i>Erignathus barbatus</i> (Pinnipedia: Phocidae)

Marshall, Deborah A.; Amin, Heidi; Kovacs, Kit M.; Lydersen, Christian

doi:10.1002/ar.a.20273

Cited by 88 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Unlike most phocids, pups of this species start foraging before weaning . Because bearded seals prey on fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, and worms at the sea floor (Hjelset et al 1999) using their sensitive whiskers (Marshall et al 2006), the bottom phases where swim speeds drop suggest they are foraging. In the present study, all pups including the newborn demonstrated such dives.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diving behavior and swimming style of nursing bearded seal pups

Watanabe¹,

Lydersen²,

Sato³

et al. 2009

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Seals are born on land or ice and must acquire the diving and swimming skills required to forage and avoid predators during their early lives. While diving behavior, including swim speed and swimming style (e.g. prolonged gliding and stroke-and-glide swimming), of adult seals is well documented, knowledge regarding the diving behavior of pups is still limited to records of dive depth and duration measured by simple time-depth recorders. In the present study, we attached multisensor data loggers to 6 bearded seal Erignathus barbatus pups weighing between 33 kg (newborn) and 104 kg (close to weaning). The mean swim speed and the mean distance covered by a stroke cycle was lowest (0.5 m s -1 and 0.3 m, respectively) in the smallest pup and highest (0.9 m s -1 and 0.6 m) in the largest pup. The largest pup showed substantial periods (17% of transit time) of prolonged gliding, as adult seals commonly do. However, the 3 medium-sized pups glided only during < 5% of the transit time, and the 2 smallest pups did not glide. Stroke-and-glide swimming was not observed in any pups. The stroke cycle frequency of the smallest pup was highly variable, while that of the largest pup was relatively stable. These results suggest that the swimming performance of the pups developed during the short nursing period.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diving behavior and swimming style of nursing bearded seal pups

Watanabe¹,

Lydersen²,

Sato³

et al. 2009

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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show abstract

“…Some authors have argued that the presence of these foramina in other synapsids (such as the cynodont Thrinaxodon) indicates that these taxa possessed enlarged vibrissae (see discussion in Estes, 1961). However, vibrissae do not leave osteological traces on the surface of the cranium in living mammals, even in taxa with highly developed vibrissae such as pinnipeds (Marshall et al, 2006;Muchlinski, 2010). Additionally, similar foramina are present in animals that lack vibrissae (such as the modern tegu Tupinambis), suggesting that these pits more likely transmitted arteries and/or nerves (Estes, 1961).…”

Section: Paleobiology Of Uf 27881mentioning

confidence: 99%

A new species of small-bodied sparassodont (Mammalia, Metatheria) from the middle Miocene locality of Quebrada Honda, Bolivia

Engelman

Croft

2014

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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ABSTRACT-The Sparassodonta (Mammalia, Metatheria) are a group of carnivorous mammals that dominated the macropredatory guild of South America during the Cenozoic. Here, we describe a new sparassodont based on a single specimen from the middle Miocene Quebrada Honda local fauna of southern Bolivia. This specimen (UF 27881) does not clearly correspond to any major sparassodont group (e.g., Hathliacynidae, Borhyaenidae, etc.) and represents a morphotype previously unknown among the Sparassodonta. UF 27881 is distinguished from other sparassodonts by its short, broad, borhyaenid-like rostrum and small size, among other features. However, we decline to coin a new name for UF 27881 due to the fragmentary nature of this specimen and the absence of most of its dentition. This specimen suggests that the appearance of the Sparassocynidae and several hypercarnivorous didelphid taxa (including Thylophorops, Thylatheridium, Lutreolina, and Hyperdidelphys) represent an evolutionary response to the decline in small, predatory sparassodont taxa during the late Cenozoic. This study documents new morphological diversity among the Sparassodonta and highlights the value of fossils from traditionally undersampled parts of South America.

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“…The vibrotactile sense of pinnipeds relies on sturdy, specialized vibrissae and supporting hypertrophied neural architecture (Ladygina et al, 1985;Marshall et al, 2006;Hyvärinen et al, 2009;Ginter et al, 2012;Mcgovern et al, 2015), and can gather information from both terrestrial and marine environments. Pinnipeds use their vibrissae for the tactile discrimination of surfaces (Dehnhardt, 1994;Dehnhardt and Kaminski, 1995;Grant et al, 2013) and the detection and following of underwater wakes (Dehnhardt et al, 2001;Gläser et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vibrissal sensitivity in a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)

Murphy

Reichmuth

Mann

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Prior efforts to characterize the capabilities of the vibrissal system in seals have yielded conflicting results. Here, we measured the sensitivity of the vibrissal system of a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) to directly coupled sinusoidal stimuli delivered by a vibrating plate. A trained seal was tested in a psychophysical paradigm to determine the smallest velocity that was detectable at nine frequencies ranging from 10 to 1000 Hz. The stimulus plate was driven by a vibration shaker and the velocity of the plate at each frequency-amplitude combination was calibrated with a laser vibrometer. To prevent cueing from other sensory stimuli, the seal was fitted with a blindfold and headphones playing broadband masking noise. The seal was sensitive to vibrations across the range of frequencies tested, with best sensitivity of 0.09 mm s −1 at 80 Hz. Velocity thresholds as a function of frequency showed a characteristic U-shaped curve with decreasing sensitivity below 20 Hz and above 250 Hz. To ground-truth the experimental setup, four human subjects were tested in the same paradigm using their thumb to contact the vibrating plate. Threshold measurements for the humans were similar to those of the seal, demonstrating comparable tactile sensitivity for their structurally different mechanoreceptive systems. The thresholds measured for the harbor seal in this study were about 100 times more sensitive than previous in-air measures of vibrissal sensitivity for this species. The results were similar to those reported by others for the detection of waterborne vibrations, but show an extended range of frequency sensitivity.

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Microstructure and innervation of the mystacial vibrissal follicle‐sinus complex in bearded seals, Erignathus barbatus (Pinnipedia: Phocidae)

Cited by 88 publications

References 46 publications

Diving behavior and swimming style of nursing bearded seal pups

Diving behavior and swimming style of nursing bearded seal pups

A new species of small-bodied sparassodont (Mammalia, Metatheria) from the middle Miocene locality of Quebrada Honda, Bolivia

Vibrissal sensitivity in a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)

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