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| From Bashford Dean, Mem.N.Y. Acad. of Science. | Fig. 21.—Placoidelements of a male Thorn-back, Raiaclavata. |
| Fig. 20.—Skeleton ofPectoral Fin of Cladoselache. |
Osseous or Bony Skeleton.—The most ancient type of bony skeleton appears to be represented in the placoid elements such as are seen in the skin of the Selachian (fig. 21). Each placoid element consists of a spine with a broadly expanded base embedded in the dermis. The base is composed of bone: the spine of the somewhat modified bone known as dentine. Ensheathing the tip of the spine is a layer of extremely hard enamel formed by the inner surface of the ectoderm which originally covered it. Such typical placoid scales are well seen on any ordinary skate. In the groups of fishes above the Selachians, the coating of placoid elements shows various modifications. The spines disappear, though they may be present for a time in early development. The bony basal plates tend to undergo fusion—in certain cases they form a continuous bony cuirass (various Siluroids, trunk-fishes) formed of large plates jointed together at their edges. More usually the plates are small and regular in size. In Crossopterygians and Lepidosteus and in many extinct forms the scales are of the ganoid type, being rhomboidal and having their outer layer composed of hard glistening ganoine. In other Teleostomes the scales are as a rule thin, rounded and overlapping—the so-called cycloid type (fig. 22, A); where the posterior edge shows toothlike projections the scale is termed ctenoid (fig. 22, B). In various Teleosts the scales are vestigial (eel); in others (as in most electric fishes) they have completely disappeared.
| Fig. 22.—A, Cycloid Scale of Scopelus resplendens (magn.). B, Ctenoid Scale of Lethrinus (magn.). |
Teeth.—Certain of the placoid elements belonging to that part of the skin which gives rise to the lining of the stomodaeum have their spines enlarged or otherwise modified to form teeth. In the majority of fishes these remain simple, conical structures: in some of the larger sharks (Carcharodon) they become flattened into trenchant blades with serrated edges: in certain rays (Myliobatis) they form a pavement of flattened plates suited for crushing molluscan shells. In the young Neoceratodus[31] there are numerous small conical teeth, the bases of which become connected by a kind of spongework of bony trabeculae. As development goes on a large basal mass is formed which becomes the functional tooth plate of the adult, the original separate denticles disappearing completely. In the other two surviving Dipnoans, similar large teeth exist, though here there is no longer trace in ontogeny of their formation by the basal fusion of originally separate denticles. In the Selachians the bony skeleton is restricted to the placoid elements. In the Teleostomes and the Dipnoans the original cartilaginous skeleton becomes to a great extent unsheathed or replaced by bony tissue. It seems highly probable that the more deeply seated osseous elements occurring in these as in the higher groups arose in the course of evolution by the spreading inwards of bony trabeculae from the bases of the placoid elements. Such a method has been demonstrated as occurring in individual development in the case of certain of the more superficially placed bones.[32]
The placoid element with its cap of enamel secreted by the ectoderm is probably originally derived from a local thickening of the basement membrane which with the external cuticle may be looked on as the most ancient skeletal structure in the Metazoa. The basal plate appears to have been a later development than the spine; in the palaeozoic Coelolepidae[33] the basal plate is apparently not yet developed.
Only a brief summary can be given here of the leading features in the osteology of fishes. Care must be taken not to assume that bony elements bearing the same name in fishes and in other groups, or even in the various sub-divisions of the fishes, are necessarily strictly homologous. In all probability bony elements occupying similar positions and described by the same anatomical name have been evolved independently from the ancestral covering of placoid elements.
| From Parker & Haswell’s Text-book of Zoology, by permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Ltd. |
| Fig. 23.—One of the radialia of the salmon, consisting of three segments, ptg¹, ptg², ptg³, and supporting a dermal fin ray. D.F.R. |
Teleostei.—It will be convenient to take as the basis of our description the bony skeleton of such a Teleostean fish as the salmon. In the vertebral column all the cartilaginous elements are replaced by bone. The haemal spines of the turned-up tip of the tail are flattened (hypural bones) and serve to support the caudal fin rays.
In Argyropelecus and in one or two deep-sea forms the vertebral column remains cartilaginous.
Apart from the ossification of the radialia which takes place in the adults of bony fishes there exist special supporting structures in the fins (paired as well as median) of all the gnathostomatous fishes and apparently in nature independent of the cartilaginous skeleton. These are known as dermal fin-rays.[34] Morphologically they are probably to be looked on (like placoid elements) as local exaggerations of the basement membrane.