A B C Bottom resting Feeding Swimming Courtship Hartman, 1979
Manatees Strategies to stay on bottom at low cost Dense and heavy bones Dense skin Large lungs Ballast
Maneuverability Pectoral flippers or tailfluke Contractions of hemidiaphragms Position in water column Pitch and roll
Rommel and Reynolds, 2000
Manatee diaphragm Rommel and Reynolds, 2000
Compartmentalization Need to be distinct muscular units Separated by connective tissue elements With separate sources of innervation Termed “ neuromuscular compartments ”
Hypothesis Manatee hemidiaphragms are compartmentalized.
Methods Gross anatomical studies
Connective tissue elements Phrenic nerve VC Bundles
Connective tissue elements VC Bundle
Connective tissue elements VC Bundles X X X
Multi-directional fibers M. Newson, 1996 Manatee Diaphragm Intrinsic Tongue Muscles
Conclusions VC bundles separate diaphragm into 1.0 cm-wide blocks Muscle fibers insert into VC bundles Branches of phrenic nerve innervate groups of blocks Compartments may be composed of groups of blocks
D. Perrine, 2001