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A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as well as possible hydrodynamic advantages.
Dolphins are sometimes used as symbols, for instance in heraldry. When heraldry developed in the Middle Ages, not much was known about the biology of the dolphin and it was often depicted as a sort of fish. Traditionally, the dolphins in heraldry still may take after this notion, sometimes showing the dolphin skin covered with fish scales.
Leptoid scales are found on higher-order bony fish. As they grow they add concentric layers. As they grow they add concentric layers. They are arranged so as to overlap in a head-to-tail direction, like roof tiles, allowing a smoother flow of water over the body and therefore reducing drag . [ 3 ]
Mahi-mahi have compressed bodies and one very long dorsal fin extending from the head almost to the tail fin. Mature males have distinctive "foreheads"; it grows as the fish matures and often protrudes well above the body proper, which is streamlined by the musculature of the back. This "hump" is a sexually dimorphic feature; females have a ...
Apart from electric rays, which have a thick and flabby body, with soft, loose skin, chondrichthyans have tough skin covered with dermal teeth (again, Holocephali is an exception, as the teeth are lost in adults, only kept on the clasping organ seen on the caudal ventral surface of the male), also called placoid scales (or dermal denticles ...
The stylised heraldic dolphin still conventionally follows this tradition, sometimes showing the dolphin skin covered with fish scales. A well-known historical example was the coat of arms of the former province of the Dauphiné in southern France, from which were derived the arms and the title of the Dauphin of France , the heir to the former ...
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Actinopterygii (/ ˌ æ k t ɪ n ɒ p t ə ˈ r ɪ dʒ i aɪ /; from Ancient Greek ἀκτίς (aktis) 'having rays' and πτέρυξ (ptérux) 'wing, fins'), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish [2] that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. [3]