Anatomy and Morphology
The Cuban iguana is a large lizard, with an average body length of 40 centimeters (16 in) from snout to vent (the base of the tail). On rare occasions, individual males with lengths of 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) when measured from the snout to the tip of the tail have been recorded at the wildlife sanctuary within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (GTMO), Cuba with females being two thirds that size. The species is sexually dimorphic: males are much larger than females, and males have enlarged femoral pores on their thighs, which are used to release pheromones to attract mates and mark territory. The skin of male Cuban iguanas ranges in color from dark gray to brick red, whereas that of females is olive green with dark stripes or bands. In both sexes, limbs are black with pale brown oval spots and solid black feet. Young animals tend to be dark brown or green with faint darker striping or mottling in five to ten diagonal transverse bands on the body. These bands blend in with the body color as the iguana ages. Both sexes possess a dewlap (skin hanging below the neck) and a row of spines running down their back to their thick tail. Their heads and necks are short and stout, their teeth are solid and broad, and they have powerful jaw muscles. Their jowls, which grow larger as the animal ages, are covered in spiky protuberances called tubercles.
The Cuban iguana's eyes have a golden iris and red sclera. Cuban iguanas have excellent vision and the ability to detect shapes and movement at long distances. Sensory cells called "double cones" give them sharp color vision and enable them to see ultraviolet wavelengths. By seeking out locations with more ultraviolet sunlight to bask in, the Cuban iguana optimizes vitamin D production. Cuban iguanas have poor low-light vision, because they have few rods or photoreceptor cells. Like other iguanids, Cuban iguanas have a white photosensory organ on the top of their heads, called the parietal eye. This "eye" has only a rudimentary retina and lens and cannot form images, but it is sensitive to changes in light and can detect movement.
Read more about this topic: Cyclura Nubila
Famous quotes containing the words anatomy and/or morphology:
“But a man must keep an eye on his servants, if he would not have them rule him. Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world. But it is found that the machine unmans the user. What he gains in making cloth, he loses in general power.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language.... To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization.”
—Frantz Fanon (1925–1961)