Morphology of the tongue in a newborn Stejneger's beaked whale (Mesoplodon stejnegeri).
This light and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) study on the tongue of a newborn Stejneger's beaked whale (Mesoplodon stejnegeri) demonstrated a clear difference in its form from than that of other cetacean and adult Stejneger's beaked whales. This newborn Stejneger's beaked whale had a spoon-like shaped tongue. The dorsal surface in the center part of the tongue was flat and did not have papillae, but there were marginal papillae and small papillae on the anterior part of the tongue. In the posterior of the tongue, hillock-shaped papillae with taste buds on the epithelium were observed.
Shindo
Junji
J
Laboratory of Wildlife Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University, Towada, Aomori 034-8628, Japan. shindo@vmas.kitasato-u.ac.jp
Yamada
Tadasu K
TK
Yoshimura
Ken
K
Kageyama
Ikuo
I
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014059:Tongue / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000294:innervation* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014907:Whales / Q000033:anatomy & histology*