Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System

The vertebral system in Hippocampus hippocampus is highly specialised because of the vertical locomotion and tail prehensility. The vertebral elements represent a special case of morphological changes, being the metameric structures organised along a natural functional series. We investigated the sh...

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Autores principales:	Bruner,Emilano, Bartolino,Valerio
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía 2008
Materias:	Metamery Serial homology Shape analysis Seahorse Axial skeleton
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95022008000200002
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0717-950220080002000022008-11-25Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral SystemBruner,EmilanoBartolino,Valerio Metamery Serial homology Shape analysis Seahorse Axial skeleton The vertebral system in Hippocampus hippocampus is highly specialised because of the vertical locomotion and tail prehensility. The vertebral elements represent a special case of morphological changes, being the metameric structures organised along a natural functional series. We investigated the shape changes along the vertebral spine in H. hippocampus through geometric morphometrics, in order to describe functional and structural patterns. Actually, the dorso-ventral tail bending ability in the genus Hippocampus is one of the most impressive morphological modifications in the evolutionary history of fishes. Vertebrae were analysed using a 2D configuration from the left lateral view. The variation along the vertebral series suggests the identification of cervical, abdominal, dorsal, and caudal groups. The first three (cervical) elements and the lOth (supra-dorsal) structure show peculiar morphologies and local adaptations, associated with neck angulation and dorsal fin muscles, respectively. The vertebral size decreases from the anteriormost element backward, with some local variation at the dorsal area. Major changes are related to allometric variation at the neural región. The caudal elements are characterised by a marked size decrease, with consequent allometric shape changes involving the rotation of the posterior vertebral opening. This allometric trajectory leads to a natural ventral bending of the tail, promoting its prehensile function. This morphological survey suggests an interesting structural network between posture, locomotion, and vertebral anatomy, underlying the main functional changes in the Hippocampus biomechanics. Geometric morphometrics is rather suitable to approach metameric studies in terms of serial variation and functional adaptations.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedad Chilena de AnatomíaInternational Journal of Morphology v.26 n.2 20082008-06-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95022008000200002en10.4067/S0717-95022008000200002
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Metamery Serial homology Shape analysis Seahorse Axial skeleton
spellingShingle	Metamery Serial homology Shape analysis Seahorse Axial skeleton Bruner,Emilano Bartolino,Valerio Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System
description	The vertebral system in Hippocampus hippocampus is highly specialised because of the vertical locomotion and tail prehensility. The vertebral elements represent a special case of morphological changes, being the metameric structures organised along a natural functional series. We investigated the shape changes along the vertebral spine in H. hippocampus through geometric morphometrics, in order to describe functional and structural patterns. Actually, the dorso-ventral tail bending ability in the genus Hippocampus is one of the most impressive morphological modifications in the evolutionary history of fishes. Vertebrae were analysed using a 2D configuration from the left lateral view. The variation along the vertebral series suggests the identification of cervical, abdominal, dorsal, and caudal groups. The first three (cervical) elements and the lOth (supra-dorsal) structure show peculiar morphologies and local adaptations, associated with neck angulation and dorsal fin muscles, respectively. The vertebral size decreases from the anteriormost element backward, with some local variation at the dorsal area. Major changes are related to allometric variation at the neural región. The caudal elements are characterised by a marked size decrease, with consequent allometric shape changes involving the rotation of the posterior vertebral opening. This allometric trajectory leads to a natural ventral bending of the tail, promoting its prehensile function. This morphological survey suggests an interesting structural network between posture, locomotion, and vertebral anatomy, underlying the main functional changes in the Hippocampus biomechanics. Geometric morphometrics is rather suitable to approach metameric studies in terms of serial variation and functional adaptations.
author	Bruner,Emilano Bartolino,Valerio
author_facet	Bruner,Emilano Bartolino,Valerio
author_sort	Bruner,Emilano
title	Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System
title_short	Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System
title_full	Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System
title_fullStr	Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System
title_full_unstemmed	Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System
title_sort	morphological variation in the seahorse vertebral system
publisher	Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía
publishDate	2008
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95022008000200002
work_keys_str_mv	AT bruneremilano morphologicalvariationintheseahorsevertebralsystem AT bartolinovalerio morphologicalvariationintheseahorsevertebralsystem
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Morphological Variation in the Seahorse Vertebral System

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