Spondylosis in the whale--an anatomicoradiological study of an osteophyte

This report describes a macroscopic and radiological study (on a dry specimen) of a whale vertebra having an osteophyte of spondylosis similar to those present in man and other mammalians. This osteophyte has a remodelled and dense structure different from that of the normal neighbouring bone of the vertebral body (which has the particular bone structure of a cetacean). The study of the osteophytes and the bridges of sponylosis in the marine mammalians offers particularly favourable conditions for a better dissociation of the pre-existing vertebral body and the extrinsic bone which was newly developed under the influence of mechanical factors.