Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood
Synopsis The demands on the locomotor muscles at birth are different for cetaceans than terrestrial mammals. Cetacean muscles do not need to support postural costs as the neonate transitions from the womb because water’s buoyant force supports body weight. Rather, neonatal cetacean muscles must sust...
Published in: | Integrative And Comparative Biology |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad011 https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/icb/icad011/50183697/icad011.pdf https://academic.oup.com/icb/article-pdf/63/3/785/51600279/icad011.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/icb/icad011 2024-05-12T08:01:48+00:00 Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood Noren, S R 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad011 https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/icb/icad011/50183697/icad011.pdf https://academic.oup.com/icb/article-pdf/63/3/785/51600279/icad011.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model Integrative And Comparative Biology volume 63, issue 3, page 785-795 ISSN 1540-7063 1557-7023 Plant Science Animal Science and Zoology journal-article 2023 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad011 2024-04-18T08:17:23Z Synopsis The demands on the locomotor muscles at birth are different for cetaceans than terrestrial mammals. Cetacean muscles do not need to support postural costs as the neonate transitions from the womb because water’s buoyant force supports body weight. Rather, neonatal cetacean muscles must sustain locomotion under hypoxic conditions as the neonate accompanies its mother swimming underwater. Despite disparate demands at birth, cetaceans like terrestrial mammals require postnatal development to attain mature musculature. Neonatal cetaceans have a low proportion of muscle mass, and their locomotor muscles have lower mitochondrial density, myoglobin content (Mb), and buffering capacity than those found in the adult locomotor muscle. For example, the locomotor muscle of the neonatal bottlenose dolphin has only 10 and 65% of the Mb and buffering capacity, respectively, found in the adult locomotor muscle. The maturation period required to achieve mature Mb and buffering capacity in the locomotor muscle varies across cetacean species from 0.75 to 4 and 1.17 to 3.4 years, respectively. The truncated nursing interval of harbor porpoises and sub-ice travel of beluga whales may be drivers for faster muscle maturation in these species. Despite these postnatal changes in the locomotor muscle, ontogenetic changes in locomotor muscle fiber type seem to be rare in cetaceans. Regardless, the underdeveloped aerobic and anaerobic capacities of the locomotor muscle of immature dolphins result in diminished thrusting capability and swim performance. Size-specific stroke amplitudes (23–26% of body length) of 0–3-month-old dolphins are significantly smaller than those of >10-month-olds (29–30% of body length), and 0–1-month-olds only achieve 37 and 52% of the mean and maximum swim speed of adults, respectively. Until swim performance improves with muscle maturation, young cetaceans are precluded from achieving their pod’s swim speeds, which could have demographic consequences when fleeing anthropogenic disturbances. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beluga Beluga* Oxford University Press Integrative And Comparative Biology 63 3 785 795 |
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Oxford University Press |
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croxfordunivpr |
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English |
topic |
Plant Science Animal Science and Zoology |
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Plant Science Animal Science and Zoology Noren, S R Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood |
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Plant Science Animal Science and Zoology |
description |
Synopsis The demands on the locomotor muscles at birth are different for cetaceans than terrestrial mammals. Cetacean muscles do not need to support postural costs as the neonate transitions from the womb because water’s buoyant force supports body weight. Rather, neonatal cetacean muscles must sustain locomotion under hypoxic conditions as the neonate accompanies its mother swimming underwater. Despite disparate demands at birth, cetaceans like terrestrial mammals require postnatal development to attain mature musculature. Neonatal cetaceans have a low proportion of muscle mass, and their locomotor muscles have lower mitochondrial density, myoglobin content (Mb), and buffering capacity than those found in the adult locomotor muscle. For example, the locomotor muscle of the neonatal bottlenose dolphin has only 10 and 65% of the Mb and buffering capacity, respectively, found in the adult locomotor muscle. The maturation period required to achieve mature Mb and buffering capacity in the locomotor muscle varies across cetacean species from 0.75 to 4 and 1.17 to 3.4 years, respectively. The truncated nursing interval of harbor porpoises and sub-ice travel of beluga whales may be drivers for faster muscle maturation in these species. Despite these postnatal changes in the locomotor muscle, ontogenetic changes in locomotor muscle fiber type seem to be rare in cetaceans. Regardless, the underdeveloped aerobic and anaerobic capacities of the locomotor muscle of immature dolphins result in diminished thrusting capability and swim performance. Size-specific stroke amplitudes (23–26% of body length) of 0–3-month-old dolphins are significantly smaller than those of >10-month-olds (29–30% of body length), and 0–1-month-olds only achieve 37 and 52% of the mean and maximum swim speed of adults, respectively. Until swim performance improves with muscle maturation, young cetaceans are precluded from achieving their pod’s swim speeds, which could have demographic consequences when fleeing anthropogenic disturbances. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Noren, S R |
author_facet |
Noren, S R |
author_sort |
Noren, S R |
title |
Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood |
title_short |
Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood |
title_full |
Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood |
title_fullStr |
Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood |
title_full_unstemmed |
Building Cetacean Locomotor Muscles throughout Ontogeny to Support High-Performance Swimming into Adulthood |
title_sort |
building cetacean locomotor muscles throughout ontogeny to support high-performance swimming into adulthood |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad011 https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/icb/icad011/50183697/icad011.pdf https://academic.oup.com/icb/article-pdf/63/3/785/51600279/icad011.pdf |
genre |
Beluga Beluga* |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga* |
op_source |
Integrative And Comparative Biology volume 63, issue 3, page 785-795 ISSN 1540-7063 1557-7023 |
op_rights |
https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad011 |
container_title |
Integrative And Comparative Biology |
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63 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
785 |
op_container_end_page |
795 |
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1798843899793375232 |