Actinotrichia-independent developmental mechanisms of spiny rays facilitate the morphological diversification of Acanthomorpha fish fins (opens in new tab)

Skeletal forms in vertebrates have been regarded as good models of morphological diversification. Fish fins show great diversity in form, with their supporting skeletal structure being classified into soft rays and spiny rays. In fish evolution, spiny-ray morphologies are known to be sometimes extremely modified; however, it remains unknown how the developmental mechanisms of spiny rays have contributed to their morphological diversification. By using the rainbowfish Melanotaenia praecox for ...