The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
In Teleostei and bony Ganoids they often have different attachments in
different parts of the body. In the tail region they are not
differentiated from the two halves of the ventral arch, which meet in
the middle line, and are prolonged into a haemal spine. In the
posterior trunk region they sometimes form distinct processes
diverging from the two halves of the ventral arch; while further
forward they may shift their attachment so as to arise from the dorsal
side of the two halves of the ventral arch and at some distance from
their ends, which now diverge as ventri-lateral processes.
APPENDICULAR SKELETON.
PECTORAL GIRDLE.
The simplest type of pectoral girdle is found in Elasmobranchs. It is
entirely cartilaginous and consists of a curved ventrally-placed rod,
ending dorsally in two horn-like scapular processes which are
sometimes attached to the cranium or vertebral column. In Rays the
shoulder girdle is very large, and has a distinct suprascapular
portion forming a broad plate attached to the neural spines of the
vertebrae. There is often a cup-like glenoid cavity for the
articulation of the limb; this cavity is specially large in Rays and
is much pierced by holes. In Dipnoi the cartilaginous girdle still
occurs, but on it there is a deposit of membrane bone forming the
clavicle, infraclavicle, and supra-clavicle. These bones, which with
the exception of the clavicle, are unknown in higher vertebrates, are
better developed in Ganoids, and best of all in Teleosteans. They are
connected by the supratemporal with the epi-otic and opisthotic
regions of the cranium. Owing to this development of dermal bone, the
original cartilaginous arch becomes much reduced, but ossifications
representing the scapula and coracoid occur in bony Ganoids and
Teleosteans.
PELVIC GIRDLE.
In Elasmobranchs the pelvic girdle consists of a short ventral rod of
cartilage representing the ischium and pubis, which does not send up
dorsal iliac processes. In _Chimaera_ the pelvic girdle has a
flattened pointed iliac portion, and ventrally an unpaired movable
cartilaginous plate which bears hooks and is supposed to be copulatory
in function. Claspers of the usual type are present as well. The
Dipnoi have a primitive kind of pelvis in the form of a cartilaginous
plate lying in the mid-ventral line and drawn out into three horns
anteriorly. In Ganoids the pelvis has almost entirely disappeared,
though small cartilaginous vestiges of it remain in _Polypterus_. In
Teleosteans even these vestiges are gone, and in these fish and
Ganoids the place of the pelvis is taken by the enlarged basi-pterygia
(meta-pterygia) of the fins.
PAIRED FINS[46].
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