The spine is an elongated projection of the bone, which may be confused with the terms’ crest’ and ‘line’. Here, you will know the concise answer to the question – ‘what is the spine of a bone in anatomy’ with examples.
Quick answer and explanation: the spine is a slender or pointed projection of the skeleton’s bones. Thus, the term’ spine’ is applied when the bone possesses a thin edge or sharp tip.
I will explain the term’ spine’ of a bone with different examples. So, you will easily identify the spine from other skeleton bones of an animal.
What is the spine of a bone in anatomy?
Explanation of spine of a bone: the particular area of a bone of the animal skeleton possesses elongated bony elevation. This elongated elevation of the bone may be slender or pointed. This slender or pointed bony projection is known as the spine of a bone in anatomy.
So, the key features of the spine of a bone in anatomy are –
- It must be a bony projection of a specific bone,
- This projection is in elongated form,
- And this projection will be slender (thin) or pointed,
Examples of the spine of animal bones
- The greater ischiatic spine of the animal hip bone,
- Scapular spine of the animal scapula,
- The superior spine of the lumbar vertebrae of animals, and
- A dorsal spine of the animal’s cervical vertebrae,
Example 1: Let’s see the typical example of a spine of a bone in anatomy. This is the ox hip bone, where I have identified a slender or thin, sharp, bony projection.
This bony projection is in the elongated form. It also follows the other two spine features (slender and sharp). So this is a spine, and it is known as the greater ischiatic spine of the ox hip bone.
Example 2: here, the diagram shows the elongated, slender, and pointed bony projection on the lateral surface of a dog scapula. This structure also follows all the typical features of the spine.
This is the spine of a dog scapula that divides the lateral surface into equal halves. The distal part of the dog scapula spine forms the pointed acromion process.
So, the summary of the spine of a bone is shown in Table 1 –
| The spine of the animal bone | Typical osteological features |
| Projection type | An elongated, thin bony projection |
| Edge of the spine | Thin and sharp |
| Examples of the spine of the bones | Greater ischiatic spine, Scapular spine, |
How to differentiate the spine from the crest and line of the bones?
Answer: The spine, crest, and line are all the elongated bony projections of a particular bone. However, their appearance is different; thus, they are termed according to their name.
Here, the crest is the elongated projection of bone but has no sharp features. Again, the line is also an elongated bony projection, but gradually it diminishes.
Table 2 shows the major differences among the spine, line, and crest of the animal’s bones –
| Features | Spine | Crest | Line |
| Type of projection | Elongated projection | Elongated projection | Elongated projection |
| Thin and sharpness | Thin and sharp | Thick and blunt | Thin but not sharp |
| Diminishes of projection | N/A | N/A | Gradually faint |
Conclusion
So, the spine is the bony, slender, or sharpened elevation of any bone. Typical spine features are found in the animal hip and scapular bones.
