Anatomical Planes and Directional Terms

• Cranial and Caudal- refers to the ends of the animal as it stands on four legs. With the exception of Marine and aquatic animals and humans
• Cranial/Cephalic/Anterior- Towards the head
• Rostral- a special term used only to describe positions or directions on the head especially towards the tip of the nose
• Caudal/Posterior- towards the tail
• Dorsal/Superior- towards the back or above
• Ventral/Inferior- towards the belly or the ground
• Medial and Lateral- refers to positions relative to the median plane
• Medial- towards the central line of the body
• Median plane- central line of the body
• Lateral- away from the median plane
• Deep and Superficial- refer to the position of the body parts relative to the center or surface of the body
• Deep/Internal- towards the center of the body or body part
• Superficial/ External- towards the surface of the body
• Proximal and Distal- are used to describe positions only on extremeties such as leg, ear, and tail, relative to the body
• Proximal- towards the body
• Distal- away from the body
• With respect to distal parts of limbs,

  • The anterior and posterior faces are refered as dorsal and volar in fore/pectoral limb
  • Dorsal and Plantar in pelvic limb
• The terms axial and abaxial are used to denote the structures lying towards or away from the central axis of the limb
• Oral- towatds the head
• Aboral- away the head
• Central- nearest the middle
• Peripheral- nearest the surface
• Parietal- body wall/ wall of the cavity
• Viscera- vescera or organ on the cavity
• Somatic- part of the body other than viscera
• 3 Anatomical Planes

  1. Median/Sagittal/Midsagittal Plane
  2. Transverse/ Horizontal / Axial Plane
  3. Frontal/Coronal Plane
• Median/Sagittal/Midsagittal plane- longitudinal plane that runs down the center of the body lengthwise and divides it into equal left and right halves
• Parasagittal Plane- a plane parallel to the sagittal plane but not on the median line
• Median line/ Midline- the exact center and axis of the body which runs the middle of the body, where sagittal plane is based
• Transverse/Horizontal/Axial Plane- latitudinal plane across the body that divides it into cranial (head-end) and caudal (tail-end), which are not necessarily equal
• Frontal/ Coronal PLane- plane that is perpendicular to the sagittal and transverse planes forming a right angle. It divides the body into dorsal and ventral parts that are not necessarily equal
• Directional Terms- this is used in anatomy for description of the various organs or parts of the body with regard to their position or direction

  • It could differ according to the parts of the animals or between species