Comparative feeding kinematics and performance of odontocetes: belugas, Pacific white-sided dolphins and long-finned pilot whales
Open Access
- 15 December 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Company of Biologists in Journal of Experimental Biology
- Vol. 212 (24), 3939-3950
- https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.034686
Abstract
SUMMARY Cetaceans are thought to display a diversity of feeding modes that are often described as convergent with other more basal aquatic vertebrates (i.e. actinopterygians). However, the biomechanics of feeding in cetaceans has been relatively ignored by functional biologists. This study investigated the feeding behavior, kinematics and pressure generation of three odontocetes with varying feeding modes (belugas, Delphinapterus leucas; Pacific white-sided dolphins, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens; and long-finned pilot whales, Globicephala melas). Four feeding phases were recognized in all odontocetes: (I) preparatory, (II) jaw opening, (III) gular depression, and (IV) jaw closing. Belugas relied on a feeding mode that was composed of discrete ram and suction components. Pacific white-sided dolphins fed using ram, with some suction for compensation or manipulation of prey. Pilot whales were kinematically similar to belugas but relied on a combination of ram and suction that was less discrete than belugas. Belugas were able to purse the anterior lips to occlude lateral gape and form a small, circular anterior aperture that is convergent with feeding behaviors observed in more basal vertebrates. Suction generation in odontocetes is a function of hyolingual displacement and rapid jaw opening, and is likely to be significantly enhanced by lip pursing behaviors. Some degree of subambient pressure was measured in all species, with belugas reaching 126 kPa. Functional variations of suction generation during feeding demonstrate a wider diversity of feeding behaviors in odontocetes than previously thought. However, odontocete suction generation is convergent with that of more basal aquatic vertebrates.Keywords
This publication has 55 references indexed in Scilit:
- Suction is kid's play: extremely fast suction in newborn seahorsesBiology Letters, 2009
- Anterior-to-posterior wave of buccal expansion in suction feeding fishes is critical for optimizing fluid flow velocity profileJournal of The Royal Society Interface, 2008
- Extremely fast prey capture in pipefish is powered by elastic recoilJournal of The Royal Society Interface, 2007
- A functional comparison of the hyolingual complex in pygmy and dwarf sperm whales (Kogia breviceps and K. sima), and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)Journal of Anatomy, 2007
- Adaptations of the cetacean hyolingual apparatus for aquatic feeding and thermoregulationThe Anatomical Record, 2007
- The smaller your mouth, the longer your snout: predicting the snout length ofSyngnathus acus,Centriscus scutatusand other pipette feedersJournal of The Royal Society Interface, 2007
- The forces exerted by aquatic suction feeders on their preyJournal of The Royal Society Interface, 2007
- Fatty acid composition of the blubber in white whales ( Delphinapterus leucas )Polar Biology, 2000
- A KINEMATIC STUDY OF SUCTION FEEDING AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIOR IN THE LONG‐FINNED PILOT WHALE, GLOBICEPHALA MELAS (TRAILL)Marine Mammal Science, 2000
- A quantitative hydrodynamical model of suction feeding in fishJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1982