Horizontal semicircular canal

Horizontal semicircular canal
Interior of right osseous labyrinth.
Template:Inner ear map/inline
Latin	canalis semicircularis lateralis
Gray's	subject #232 1049
Artery	stylomastoid artery
MeSH	Semicircular+Canals
Dorlands/Elsevier	c_04/12208853

The lateral or horizontal canal (external semicircular canal) is the shortest of the three canals. Movement of fluid within this canal corresponds to rotation of the head around a vertical axis (i.e. the neck).

Structure

It measures from 12 to 15 mm., and its arch is directed horizontally backward and lateralward; thus each semicircular canal stands at right angles to the other two.

Its ampullated end corresponds to the upper and lateral angle of the vestibule, just above the fenestra vestibuli, where it opens close to the ampullated end of the superior canal; its opposite end opens at the upper and back part of the vestibule.

The lateral canal of one ear is very nearly in the same plane as that of the other; while the superior canal of one ear is nearly parallel to the posterior canal of the other.

See also

• Semicircular canal

Additional images

• 

  Coronal section of right temporal bone.

• 

  The cochlea and vestibule, viewed from above.

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.