Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Science, New Haven, CT
This investigation addresses the question of the arterial vasculature in the head of the smaller Odontoceti. Adult animals of the following species were studied: Harbor Porpoise, or Phocoena phocoena; Bottle-nosed Dolphin, or Tursiops truncatus; Dall Porpoise, or Phocoenoides dalli dalli, and Pilot whale, or Globicephala malaena. Vinyl casting with dissection and digestion of soft tissues was the method used for demonstration. Emphasis was directed to the cerebral circulation at the base of the brain as well as circulation to the eye and ocular adnexae. The results to be presented offer a body of information concerning arterial circulation in cetaceans which is unique to them among mammals.