Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs
Mature male ringed seals (Phoca hispida) have a very strong odour emanating from the facial region during the breeding season. The inner surface of the skin from the heads of three animals captured during the mating season revealed the distribution of closely packed, much enlarged sebaceous glands o...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
1991
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z91-029 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z91-029 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z91-029 2024-05-12T08:10:00+00:00 Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs Hardy, Margaret H. Roff, Elizabeth Smith, Thomas G. Ryg, Morten 1991 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z91-029 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z91-029 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 69, issue 1, page 189-200 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 1991 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z91-029 2024-04-18T06:54:53Z Mature male ringed seals (Phoca hispida) have a very strong odour emanating from the facial region during the breeding season. The inner surface of the skin from the heads of three animals captured during the mating season revealed the distribution of closely packed, much enlarged sebaceous glands on the anterior muzzle skin and extending into the interorbital and postvibrissal regions. A histological study was made of facial skin from 22 animals of different ages and both sexes, taken from Svalbard, Norway, during the breeding season. In mature males the sebaceous glands on the face were 3–8 times larger in cross section and more actively secreting than glands on the neck. Melanin granules were concentrated in the sebum. These facial glands were also 2–10 times larger and more actively secreting than the facial glands of immature males, mature females, or immature females. The apocrine sweat glands on the face of mature males were also much larger and more active than those of the other groups. It was concluded that the greater size, secretory activity, and melanin production of the sebaceous glands of mature male ringed seals could account for the strong odour and dark colour that have been observed on the face in the breeding season. The enlarged and active apocrine sweat glands might also contribute to the odour. The facial skin of six dominant bull grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), killed during the breeding season, had sebaceous glands of intermediate size, but high activity and high melanin content in the sebum. Their apocrine sweat glands were very large and active, indicating that they also may have a role in sexual signalling. Article in Journal/Newspaper Phoca hispida Svalbard Canadian Science Publishing Svalbard Norway Canadian Journal of Zoology 69 1 189 200 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Hardy, Margaret H. Roff, Elizabeth Smith, Thomas G. Ryg, Morten Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Mature male ringed seals (Phoca hispida) have a very strong odour emanating from the facial region during the breeding season. The inner surface of the skin from the heads of three animals captured during the mating season revealed the distribution of closely packed, much enlarged sebaceous glands on the anterior muzzle skin and extending into the interorbital and postvibrissal regions. A histological study was made of facial skin from 22 animals of different ages and both sexes, taken from Svalbard, Norway, during the breeding season. In mature males the sebaceous glands on the face were 3–8 times larger in cross section and more actively secreting than glands on the neck. Melanin granules were concentrated in the sebum. These facial glands were also 2–10 times larger and more actively secreting than the facial glands of immature males, mature females, or immature females. The apocrine sweat glands on the face of mature males were also much larger and more active than those of the other groups. It was concluded that the greater size, secretory activity, and melanin production of the sebaceous glands of mature male ringed seals could account for the strong odour and dark colour that have been observed on the face in the breeding season. The enlarged and active apocrine sweat glands might also contribute to the odour. The facial skin of six dominant bull grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), killed during the breeding season, had sebaceous glands of intermediate size, but high activity and high melanin content in the sebum. Their apocrine sweat glands were very large and active, indicating that they also may have a role in sexual signalling. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hardy, Margaret H. Roff, Elizabeth Smith, Thomas G. Ryg, Morten |
author_facet |
Hardy, Margaret H. Roff, Elizabeth Smith, Thomas G. Ryg, Morten |
author_sort |
Hardy, Margaret H. |
title |
Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
title_short |
Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
title_full |
Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
title_fullStr |
Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
title_sort |
facial skin glands of ringed and grey seals, and their possible function as odoriferous organs |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1991 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z91-029 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z91-029 |
geographic |
Svalbard Norway |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Norway |
genre |
Phoca hispida Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Phoca hispida Svalbard |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 69, issue 1, page 189-200 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z91-029 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
69 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
189 |
op_container_end_page |
200 |
_version_ |
1798853377446117376 |