Sinistral and dextral

Not to be confused with Dexter and sinister.

the block on the other side of the fault moves to the right,
or if straddling the fault the right side moves toward the
observer.[1]

Sinistral and dextral are scientic terms that describe

chirality (handedness) or relative direction in a number of disciplines. The terms are derived from the Latin
words for left (sinister) and right (dexter). Other disciplines have dierent terms (such as dextro- and laevorotary, in chemistry, or clockwise and anticlockwise in
physics) or simply use left and right (as in anatomy).

2 Biology

Relative direction and chirality are distinct concepts. Relative direction is from the point of view of the observer.
A completely symmetrical object has a left and a right
side, from the observers point of view, if the top and
bottom and direction of observation are dened. Chirality, however, is observer-independent: no matter how
one looks at a right-hand screw thread, it remains dierent from a left-hand screw thread. Therefore, a symmetrical object has sinistral and dextral directions arbitrarily
dened by the position of the observer, while an object
that has chirality can have sinistral and dextral directions
dened by characteristics of the object, no matter the position of the observer.

Geology

Left: The normally sinistral (left-handed) shell of the Northern

Hemisphere Neptunea angulata.
Right: The normally dextral (right-handed) shell of Neptunea
despecta, found mainly in the Southern Hemisphere

Main article: Fault (geology)

In geology the terms sinistral and dextral refer to the

Schematic illustration of the two strike-slip fault types. The view

is of the Earths surface from above.
Flatsh are asymmetrical, with both eyes lying on the same side

horizontal component of movement of blocks on either of the head

side of a fault or the sense of movement within a shear
zone. These are terms of relative direction, as the movement of the blocks are described relative to each other
when viewed from above. Movement is sinistral (left- 2.1 Gastropods
handed) if the block on the other side of the fault moves
to the left, or if straddling the fault the left side moves to- Main article: Gastropod shell
ward the observer. Movement is dextral (right-handed) if
1

Because the coiled shells of gastropods are asymmetrical,

they possess a quality called chirality, the handedness
of an asymmetrical structure.
Over 90% [2] of gastropod species have dextral (righthanded) shells in their coiling. A small minority of
species and genera are almost always sinistral (lefthanded). A very few species show an even mixture of dextral and sinistral individuals (for example,
Amphidromus perversus[3] ).

2.2

Flatsh

Main article: Flatsh

The most obvious characteristic of atsh, other than
their atness, is asymmetry because both eyes are on the
same side of the head in the adult sh. In some families of atsh, the eyes are always on the right side of
the body (dextral or right-eyed atsh), and in others,
they are always on the left (sinistral or left-eyed atsh).
Primitive spiny turbots include equal numbers of rightand left-sided individuals, and are generally more symmetrical than other families.[4]

See also
Chirality
Left and right (disambiguation)
Laterality
Helicity (disambiguation)

Notes

[1] Park, R.G. (2004). Foundation of Structural Geology (3

ed.). Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7487-5802-9.
[2] Schilthuizen M. & Davison A. (2005). The convoluted
evolution of snail chirality. Naturwissenschaften 92(11):
504515. doi:10.1007/s00114-005-0045-2.
[3] Amphidromus perversus (Linnaeus, 1758)
[4] Chapleau, Francois & Amaoka, Kunio (1998). Paxton,
J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N., ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San
Diego: Academic Press. xxx. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.

External links

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Sinistral and dextral Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinistral%20and%20dextral?oldid=633316919 Contributors: Infrogmation,

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6.2

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File:Neptunea_-_links&rechts_gewonden.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Neptunea_-_links%

26rechts_gewonden.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Nyst, P.H., 1878-1881. Conchyliologie des terrains tertiaires de la Belgique.
-- Ann. Mus. r. Hist. nat. Belg., 3: 1-262 (1878), 28 pls. (1881). Original artist: Scanned by Tom Meijer
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americanus.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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6.3

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