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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.
Cosmine was first described in the Osteolepiform Megalichthys hibberti by Williamson in 1849, in a purely descriptive, pre-Darwinian, non-evolutionary framework. [4] Goodrich [5] expanded on Williamson's descriptions, hypothesizing a transition from a monoodontode scale (like a chondryicthian placoid scale) to a complex polyodontode scale through fusion of discrete units.
Keeled scales of a colubrid snake (banded water snake; Nerodia fasciata). In zoology, a scale (Ancient Greek: λεπίς, romanized: lepís; Latin: squāma) is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection.
The dorsal fins have 14-23 spines and 16-21 soft rays while the anal fin has 6-8 soft rays. They have vomerine teeth and the teeth in the jaws vary in shape and can be incisor-like, sharply pointed or tricuspid. [6] They vary in size from a total length of 34.7 cm (13.7 in) in the Western seacarp to 65 cm (26 in) in the marblefish. [8]
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 ...
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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 ...
While some of the relationships are mutualistic, it is believed that dolphins with remoras attached do not benefit from the relationship. The attachment of the remora increases the dolphin's drag, which increases the energy needed for swimming. The remora is also thought to irritate the skin of the dolphin. [10]