The Study of the Sound Production Apparatus in the Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena Phocoena, and the Jacobita, Cephalorhynchus Commersoni by Means of Serial Cryo-Microtome Sectioning and 3-D Computer Graphics

Abstract

This preliminary report gives the first results from a study using high resolution 3-D computer reconstructions to describe the sound production apparatus of the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena and the jacobita or the Commerson’s dolphin, Cephalorhynchus commersoni. As the majority of investigators seem to agree that the sound source lies in the upper nasal passage (Norris et al., 1971; Diercks et al., 1971; Hollien et al., 1976; Dormer, 1979; Ridgway et al., 1980; Amundin and Andersen, 1983), the present study was restricted to the area from the bony nares to the blowhole.