Morphology and Mechanics of the Fin Whale Esophagus: The Key to Fast Processing of Large Food Volumes by Rorquals.

IF 2.2 4区 生物学 Q2 BIOLOGY
Integrative Organismal Biology Pub Date : 2024-07-01 eCollection Date: 2024-01-01 DOI:10.1093/iob/obae020
K N Gil, A W Vogl, R E Shadwick
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Abstract

Lunge feeding rorqual whales feed by engulfing a volume of prey laden water that can be as large as their own body. Multiple feeding lunges occur during a single foraging dive and the time between each lunge can be as short as 30 s (Goldbogen et al. 2013). During this short inter-lunge time, water is filtered out through baleen to concentrate prey in the oral cavity, and then the prey is swallowed prior to initiating the next lunge. Prey density in the ocean varies greatly, and despite the potential of swallowing a massive volume of concentrated prey as a slurry, the esophagus of rorqual whales has been anecdotally described as unexpectedly narrow with a limited capacity to expand. How rorquals swallow large quantities of food down a narrow esophagus during a limited inter-lunge time remains unknown. Here, we show that the small diameter muscular esophagus in the fin whale is optimized to transport a slurry of food to the stomach. A thick wall of striated muscle occurs at the pharyngeal end of the esophagus which, together with the muscular wall of the pharynx, may generate a pressure head for transporting the food down the esophagus to the stomach as a continuous stream rather than separating the food into individual boluses swallowed separately. This simple model is consistent with estimates of prey density and stomach capacity. Rorquals may be the only animals that capture a volume of food too large to swallow as a single intact bolus without oral processing, so the adaptations of the esophagus are imperative for transporting these large volumes of concentrated food to the stomach during a time-limited dive involving multiple lunges.

长须鲸食道的形态和力学:长须鲸食道的形态和力学:长须鲸快速处理大量食物的关键。
跃食性长须鲸通过吞食与自身体型相当的猎物水量来觅食。在一次觅食潜水中会进行多次跳跃觅食,每次跳跃之间的间隔时间可短至 30 秒(Goldbogen 等,2013 年)。在这短暂的跳跃间隔时间内,水通过鲸须滤出,将猎物集中在口腔中,然后在开始下一次跳跃之前吞下猎物。海洋中的猎物密度差异很大,尽管有可能吞下大量浓缩成泥浆状的猎物,但据轶事描述,旋唇鲸的食道出乎意料地狭窄,扩张能力有限。大口鲸是如何在有限的间歇时间内通过狭窄的食道吞下大量食物的,至今仍是一个未知数。在这里,我们展示了长须鲸的小直径肌肉食道在将食物泥浆输送到胃部时的最佳状态。食管的咽部末端有一层厚厚的横纹肌壁,它与咽部的肌肉壁一起可能会产生一个压力头,将食物作为一个连续的流体顺着食管输送到胃部,而不是将食物分离成单独的小块分别吞咽。这个简单的模型与对猎物密度和胃容量的估计一致。大羚羊可能是唯一一种捕获量太大的食物而不经口腔处理就能将其作为一个完整的囫囵吞下的动物,因此食道的适应性对于在有时间限制的潜水(包括多次俯冲)过程中将这些大量的浓缩食物运送到胃中是必不可少的。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.70
自引率
6.70%
发文量
48
审稿时长
20 weeks
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