Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrate Digestive System Lab Report

November 27, 2016

Richard Stockton University

Caitlin Glasser, Class

(Photo credit: http://45matthew.blogspot.com/)

 Abstract

Using a dissection kit to compare the digestive anatomy of minks, rats, pigeons, rabbits,

frogs, lampreys and necturus to understand the lifestyle of these chosen vertebrates. It was found

that the comparative anatomy of the organisms accurately depicted what their ecology and diet

would be like, based off of the length of the body versus the length of the digestive system.
 Introduction

The purpose of the vertebrate digestive lab was to compare the anatomy of different

organisms to further understand what makes their digestive organs structured so differently from

each other. These varying morphologies reflect the ecology and behavior of these animals and

determines what sort of lifestyle they have. The digestive organs and general anatomy were

viewed through dissection in the lab, using the appropriate dissecting kits that were required.

Along with this was the species to be dissected, including; necturus, pigeon, rat, rabbit, mink,

lamprey, sharks, and frog. One main aspect of the dissection process was to obtain the total

length of the assigned animal, the length of its mouth to anus, and the actual length of the

digestive tract itself.

Vertebrates have surprisingly different and similar morphologies when it comes to

digestion, meaning some have structures to digest diets that the others would not be able to

consume. For example, the pigeon contained an organ known as a gizzard. The avian digestive

system has a mouth (beak), crop (for food storage), and gizzard (for breakdown), as well as a

two-chambered stomach consisting of the proventriculus, which releases enzymes, and the true

stomach, which finishes the breakdown (Boundless. Vertebrate Digestive Systems. Boundless

Biology. Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved 27 Nov. 2016). Inside a birds stomach, the

gizzard is specifically structured to grind up seeds, the main element in many bird diets.

Interestingly enough however, alligators and crocodiles also contain a gizzard due to their

absence of teeth specified for grinding, ("Animals With Gizzards." Animals - Mom.me. N.p., n.d.

Web).
 The birds and select reptiles that have a gizzard are a good example for comparative

anatomy.

Organisms may share a similar morphology either because they inherited it from a
common ancestor (homology) or because they use it for a similar function (analogy).
Comparative anatomy is one means of assessing whether shared features are homologies or
analogies ("Laboratory Exercise 9: Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrate Digestive System."
Biodiversity & Evolution Lab Manual. Galloway: Richard Stockton U, 2016. 123. Print. BIOL
1405.)
So, the question remains, is the gizzard an analogous structure or an homologous

structure? A hypothesis for the answer being that it is both analogous and homologous seems

appropriate. For the analogy side, the gizzard is being used in both birds and select reptiles

because of the lack of grinding teeth and need for the extra breakdown of food. On the

homologous side, it is very possible that the common ancestor of birds and reptiles,

Archaeopteryx, contained a gizzard. Archaeopteryx had a full set of teeth unlike birds, but once

again teeth for digging in, rather than grinding, thus a gizzard would make sense.

("Archaeopteryx: An Early Bird." Archaeopteryx. N.p., n.d. Web).

The length of a digestive system also hints to what a vertebrate diet might consist of. One

big deviation in the length of the digestive tract is the comparison of carnivores and herbivores.

Meat is relatively easy to break down after being chewed up by the predator, so carnivores are

expected to have a simple digestive system. On the other hand, plants are more difficult and

time-consuming to digest, so the digestive tract tends to be significantly longer than carnivores to

provide enough time to acidify the food and collect nutrients. Herbivores have a more

specialized digestive system than that of a carnivore because it is more difficult to digest

vegetation than meat. The teeth are flat so that grass and plant material can be ground down,

rather than the sharp teeth of carnivores designed to tear flesh ("Digestive System of Herbivores

vs Carnivores." Prezi.com. N.p., 30 Oct. 2013. Web).

 Procedure

Direction were followed from the procedures in the Stockton Lab Manual, ("Laboratory Exercise

9: Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrate Digestive System." Biodiversity & Evolution Lab

Manual. Galloway: Richard Stockton U, 2016. 123. Print. BIOL 1405.)

Data from procedures are shown on the last page of this lab report
 Conclusion/Discussion

The purpose of this lab was to develop an understanding of the morphology of vertebrates

and use comparative anatomy to determine the ecology and diet of the provided organisms. The

following was determined; mammals tend to have the most complex digestive systems,

herbivores more so than carnivores. Rabbits, the only mammal provided that is strictly an

herbivore, had the most significant spike digestive length compared to total body length. The

difference being the rabbits body length at 52 cm and the digestive length at 432 cm, nowhere

near the deviation between body and digestive length of the other provided organisms. Although

the mammal carnivores had less of a complex digestive system compared to herbivores, they

were not the simplest.

The pigeon had a body length of 32 cm and a digestion length of 41, being less complex

than predictable based on the addition of a gizzard for the grinding of seeds. The most simple

digestive system of the provided organisms was the lampreys, which had equal measurements of

43 cm for the total length of its body, mouth to anus, and total digestive tract. Their lack of jaw

and diet consisting of sucking blood provides a simple diet, not requiring much digestive

processes ("Sea Lampreys, Petromyzon Marinus." MarineBio.org. N.p., n.d. Web). The frog and

necturus shared similar deviations in numbers, which points a finger at them sharing similar

ecology and diets, ultimately supporting the hypothesis that the necturus is an amphibian based

simply off of viewing its digestive system in comparison with the frogs. Lastly, the shark was

the only organism to have such a short digestive length, 33 cm, compared with the body total, 69

cm. This could be due to its streamlined body not requiring as much time to break down the fish

and mammals it kills, due to the preys smaller size.

 Most sharks swallow their food whole or bite it into relatively large pieces. Sharks have
U-shaped stomachs that use very strong acids and enzymes to dissolve most of what is eaten.
The stomach produces an easily absorbed, soupy mush. Only this liquid mush enters the
intestines because the pyloric valve (the valve between the stomach and the intestines) is small.
Indigestible things, (like very large bones and non-nutritive items) are vomited ("Shark
Digestion - EnchantedLearning.com." Shark Digestion - EnchantedLearning.com. N.p., n.d.
Web).

Interestingly enough, the comparative anatomy accurately depicted the ecology and diet

of the vertebrates dissected in this lab.

 Data

Vertebrate Total Length of Length from Mouth Length of Digestion

Body to Anus Tract

Necturus 29 cm 20 cm 29cm

Frog 12 cm 12 cm 19 cm

Lamprey 43 cm 43 cm 43 cm

Shark 69 cm 34 cm 33 cm

Pigeon 32 cm 20 cm 41 cm

Rat 33 cm 17 cm 82 cm

Rabbit 52 cm 52 cm 432 cm

Mink 55 cm 39 cm 145 cm
 Literature Cited

"Laboratory Exercise 9: Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrate Digestive System."

Biodiversity & Evolution Lab Manual. Galloway: Richard Stockton U, 2016. 123. Print. BIOL
1405.

Boundless. Vertebrate Digestive Systems. Boundless Biology. Boundless, 26 May.

2016. Retrieved 27 Nov. 2016

"Animals With Gizzards." Animals - Mom.me. N.p., n.d. Web

"Archaeopteryx :An Early Bird." Archaeopteryx. N.p., n.d. Web

"Digestive System of Herbivores vs Carnivores." Prezi.com. N.p., 30 Oct. 2013. Web

"Sea Lampreys, Petromyzon Marinus." MarineBio.org. N.p., n.d. Web

"Shark Digestion - EnchantedLearning.com." Shark Digestion - EnchantedLearning.com. N.p.,

n.d. Web