Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy - Lecture Notes 4 7/2/16 6:43 PM

BIO 342
Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
Lecture Notes 4 - Skeletal System III

VISCERAL SKELETON (or SPLANCHNOCRANIUM)

skeleton of the pharyngeal arches

Fishes - skeleton of the jaws & gill arches
Tetrapods - skeleton modified for new functions

Fish visceral skeleton - consists of 7 sets of paired cartilages in the 7 visceral arches & a series of mid-ventral
cartilages (basihyal & basibranchials) in the pharyngeal floor

Bony fishes

visceral skeleton resembles that of sharks except that bone is added

caudal ends of the cartilaginous pterygoquadrate undergo endochondral ossification & become the

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quadrate bones. The remainder becomes the palatine & pterygoid bones. The posterior tip of Meckel's
cartilage becomes an articular bone. (See http://www.usm.maine.edu/bio/courses/bio205/bio205_08_skull_2.html)

Feeding movements in many bony fishes -> cranial kinesis (see Figure 9.23, p.351 of text)

Cranial kinesis:

movement between the upper jaw and braincase

advantages:
provides a way to change the size and configuration of the mouth rapidly
optimize biting and rapid feeding.
disadvantages: lose force, difficult to optimize apposition of occlusive surfaces.

See also: Shark Jaw Movement

Cyclostomes

visceral skeleton unlike that of jawed fishes

Hagfishes - no identifiable pterygoquadrate or Meckel's cartilage

Jaw suspension of fishes

The jaw-hyoid complex of fishes requires bracing against some support to function effectively, and the
nearest one is the neurocranium (endocranium).
Types of suspensions:
autostyly (below left) - hyomandibula play no role in bracing the jaws (lungfish & tetrapods)
amphistyly (below middle) - jaws & hyomandibula both braced directly against the braincase
(extinct sharks)
hyostyly (below right) - mandibular cartilage is braced against the otic capsule; jaws braced

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against hyomandibula (sharks & present-day bony fishes)

Source: http://www.uta.edu/biology/restricted/3452hske.htm

TETRAPODS - With life on land (& pulmonary respiration), the visceral skeleton underwent substantial
modification. Some structures were lost & others remained to perform new functions.

Pterygoquadrate (palatoquadrate) cartilage = embryonic upper jaw cartilage

Amphibians, reptiles, & birds - posterior end undergoes endochondral ossification & becomes
the quadrate (which articulates with the articular bone of the lower jaw)

Source: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~wjh101/hedbone/Turtle/turtle.htm

Mammals - dentary (lower jaw) articulates with the squamosal of skull (quadrate separates from

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Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy - Lecture Notes 4 7/2/16 6:43 PM

the rest of the palatoquadrate & becomes the incus of the middle ear)
Meckel's cartilage
Reptiles - largely ensheathed by dermal bones (as in the above turtle)
Birds & mammals - few or no remnants in adult lower jaw (&, in mammals, the articular, formed
by ossification of the tip of Meckel's cartilage, projects into the middle ear cavity & becomes the
malleus)

Source: http://home.houston.rr.com/vnotes/Bones/Meckel.html

Arch II = Hyomandibular cartilage:

Sharks - interposed between quadrate region & otic capsule
Tetrapods - no longer articulates with quadrate & ossifies to become part of the stapes
(columella)
Arches III ---> V become part of hyoid apparatus
Arches VI & VII - not present in tetrapods

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Source: http://www.liberty.edu/academics/registrar/courses00/biol418pa.htm

Hyoid apparatus of tetrapods

consists of a body & 2 or 3 horns (cornua)

anchors tongue, provides attachment for some extrinsic muscles of larynx, & is site of attachment of
muscles that aid in swallowing

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Lower jaw

may have originated as part of a visceral arch, as in sharks (mandibular cartilage)

in bony vertebrates, mandibular cartilage is reinforced & largely replaced by a series of dermal bones

Skeletal System I

Skeletal System II

Skeletal System IV

Related Links:
Head Skeleton

Back to BIO 342 Syllabus

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