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Living animals for comparison in studies of Mesozoic fossils |
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| รหัสดีโอไอ | |
| Creator | Anne Kemp |
| Title | Living animals for comparison in studies of Mesozoic fossils |
| Publisher | Mahasarakham University |
| Publication Year | 2560 |
| Journal Title | Research & Knowledge |
| Journal Vol. | 3 |
| Journal No. | 1 |
| Page no. | 49-50 |
| Keyword | Continuity of lungfi sh morphology, occipital rib, suctorial feeding, respiration |
| ISSN | 2408 - 204X |
| Abstract | Lungfi sh are timeless, starting in the Devonian and still found today. Unfortunately this does not mean that biologists and palaeontologists agree about the functional anatomies of dipnoans. Most lungfi sh that are suffi ciently well preserved have an enlarged rib behind the head, known as the occipital or cranial rib. Biologists describe this rib in living lungfi sh as an aid to the suctorial activities of the fi sh, involving feeding, burrowing in the mud or drawing a current of air or water into the oral cavity, activities important to both groups of extant lungfi sh. The arrangement of the occipital rib in lungfi sh differs in neoceratodonts and lepidosirenids, because the morphology of the oral cavity and the throat differs in the two groups. Suctorial activities are important in most if not all lungfi sh, for feeding, breathing in air or water, or digging a hole in the substrate. However, presence of an occipital rib does not mean that the fi sh would have been an air breather. |
