Development of the Axial, Paired and Unpaired Fin Skeleton
in Three Species of Patagonian Zoarcids1
M. Marcinkeviciusa, b, * and A. E. Gosztonyic
aInstituto de Desarrollo Costero, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Ciudad Universitaria,
Km 4, Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, CP 9005, Argentina
bDepartamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco
cCentro Nacional Patagónico, CONICET, Bvd. Brown 2915, U9120ACD, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
Correspondence to: *e-mail: msmarcin@gmail.com
1The article is published in the original.
Received 24 October, 2016
Abstract—Zoarcids are abundant in the intertidal zone of the Argentine Patagonian coast. However, their osteological development has not yet been described. Thus, the aim of this work is to describe the ontogeny of the axial skeleton and that of the paired and unpaired fins of the zoarcids Iluocoetes elongatus, Phucocoetes latitans and Dadyanos insignis. The three species studied showed a high degree of development at hatching and meristic counts coincide with those of the adults. At hatching, most of the structures showed that the appearance of bones was in progress. In the three species studied, this process occurred in a cephalo-caudal direction and, in most of the structures, the appearance of bones is observed from the middle to the rim.
Keywords: Iluocoetes elongatus, Dadyanos insignis, Phucocoetes elongatus, osteological development, axial skeleton, fins, Argentine Patagonia
DOI: 10.1134/S0032945217040075