Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales

Top ocean predators have evolved multiple solutions to the challenges of feeding in the water1, 2, 3. At the largest scale, rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) engulf and filter prey-laden water by lunge feeding4, a strategy that is unique among vertebrates1. Lunge feeding is facilitated by several mor...

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Published in:Nature
Main Authors: Pyenson, Nicholas D., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Vogl, A. Wayne, Szathmary, Gabor, Drake, Richard L., Shadwick, Robert E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10088/19487
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135
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spelling ftsmithonian:oai:repository.si.edu:10088/19487 2023-05-15T15:37:08+02:00 Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales Pyenson, Nicholas D. Goldbogen, Jeremy A. Vogl, A. Wayne Szathmary, Gabor Drake, Richard L. Shadwick, Robert E. 2012 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10088/19487 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135 unknown Nature Pyenson, Nicholas D., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Vogl, A. Wayne, Szathmary, Gabor, Drake, Richard L., and Shadwick, Robert E. 2012. " Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales ." Nature . 485 (7399):498–501. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135 0028-0836 http://hdl.handle.net/10088/19487 111663 doi:10.1038/nature11135 Journal Article 2012 ftsmithonian https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135 2020-09-09T18:33:02Z Top ocean predators have evolved multiple solutions to the challenges of feeding in the water1, 2, 3. At the largest scale, rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) engulf and filter prey-laden water by lunge feeding4, a strategy that is unique among vertebrates1. Lunge feeding is facilitated by several morphological specializations, including bilaterally separate jaws that loosely articulate with the skull5, 6, hyper-expandable throat pleats, or ventral groove blubber7, and a rigid y-shaped fibrocartilage structure branching from the chin into the ventral groove blubber8. The linkages and functional coordination among these features, however, remain poorly understood. Here we report the discovery of a sensory organ embedded within the fibrous symphysis between the unfused jaws that is present in several rorqual species, at both fetal and adult stages. Vascular and nervous tissue derived from the ancestral, anterior-most tooth socket insert into this organ, which contains connective tissue and papillae suspended in a gel-like matrix. These papillae show the hallmarks of a mechanoreceptor, containing nerves and encapsulated nerve termini. Histological, anatomical and kinematic evidence indicate that this sensory organ responds to both the dynamic rotation of the jaws during mouth opening and closure, and ventral groove blubber7 expansion through direct mechanical linkage with the y-shaped fibrocartilage structure. Along with vibrissae on the chin9, providing tactile prey sensation, this organ provides the necessary input to the brain for coordinating the initiation, modulation and end stages of engulfment, a paradigm that is consistent with unsteady hydrodynamic models and tag data from lunge-feeding rorquals10, 11, 12, 13. Despite the antiquity of unfused jaws in baleen whales since the late Oligocene14 (~23 28 million years ago), this organ represents an evolutionary novelty for rorquals, based on its absence in all other lineages of extant baleen whales. This innovation has a fundamental role in one of the most extreme feeding methods in aquatic vertebrates, which facilitated the evolution of the largest vertebrates ever. NH-Paleobiology NMNH Peer-reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales Unknown Rorqual ENVELOPE(-62.311,-62.311,-65.648,-65.648) The ''Y'' ENVELOPE(-112.453,-112.453,57.591,57.591) Nature 485 7399 498 501
institution Open Polar
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op_collection_id ftsmithonian
language unknown
description Top ocean predators have evolved multiple solutions to the challenges of feeding in the water1, 2, 3. At the largest scale, rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) engulf and filter prey-laden water by lunge feeding4, a strategy that is unique among vertebrates1. Lunge feeding is facilitated by several morphological specializations, including bilaterally separate jaws that loosely articulate with the skull5, 6, hyper-expandable throat pleats, or ventral groove blubber7, and a rigid y-shaped fibrocartilage structure branching from the chin into the ventral groove blubber8. The linkages and functional coordination among these features, however, remain poorly understood. Here we report the discovery of a sensory organ embedded within the fibrous symphysis between the unfused jaws that is present in several rorqual species, at both fetal and adult stages. Vascular and nervous tissue derived from the ancestral, anterior-most tooth socket insert into this organ, which contains connective tissue and papillae suspended in a gel-like matrix. These papillae show the hallmarks of a mechanoreceptor, containing nerves and encapsulated nerve termini. Histological, anatomical and kinematic evidence indicate that this sensory organ responds to both the dynamic rotation of the jaws during mouth opening and closure, and ventral groove blubber7 expansion through direct mechanical linkage with the y-shaped fibrocartilage structure. Along with vibrissae on the chin9, providing tactile prey sensation, this organ provides the necessary input to the brain for coordinating the initiation, modulation and end stages of engulfment, a paradigm that is consistent with unsteady hydrodynamic models and tag data from lunge-feeding rorquals10, 11, 12, 13. Despite the antiquity of unfused jaws in baleen whales since the late Oligocene14 (~23 28 million years ago), this organ represents an evolutionary novelty for rorquals, based on its absence in all other lineages of extant baleen whales. This innovation has a fundamental role in one of the most extreme feeding methods in aquatic vertebrates, which facilitated the evolution of the largest vertebrates ever. NH-Paleobiology NMNH Peer-reviewed
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Pyenson, Nicholas D.
Goldbogen, Jeremy A.
Vogl, A. Wayne
Szathmary, Gabor
Drake, Richard L.
Shadwick, Robert E.
spellingShingle Pyenson, Nicholas D.
Goldbogen, Jeremy A.
Vogl, A. Wayne
Szathmary, Gabor
Drake, Richard L.
Shadwick, Robert E.
Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
author_facet Pyenson, Nicholas D.
Goldbogen, Jeremy A.
Vogl, A. Wayne
Szathmary, Gabor
Drake, Richard L.
Shadwick, Robert E.
author_sort Pyenson, Nicholas D.
title Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
title_short Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
title_full Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
title_fullStr Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
title_full_unstemmed Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
title_sort discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10088/19487
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135
long_lat ENVELOPE(-62.311,-62.311,-65.648,-65.648)
ENVELOPE(-112.453,-112.453,57.591,57.591)
geographic Rorqual
The ''Y''
geographic_facet Rorqual
The ''Y''
genre baleen whales
genre_facet baleen whales
op_relation Nature
Pyenson, Nicholas D., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Vogl, A. Wayne, Szathmary, Gabor, Drake, Richard L., and Shadwick, Robert E. 2012. " Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales ." Nature . 485 (7399):498–501. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135
0028-0836
http://hdl.handle.net/10088/19487
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container_title Nature
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