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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.
Aristotle (ca. 340 B.C.) may have been the first scientist to speculate on the use of hard parts of fishes to determine age, stating in Historica Animalium that “the age of a scaly fish may be told by the size and hardness of its scales.” [4] However, it was not until the development of the microscope that more detailed studies were performed on the structure of scales. [5]
Meristics is an area of zoology and botany which relates to counting quantitative features of animals and plants, such as the number of fins or scales in fish.A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species, or used to identify an unknown species.
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.
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.
An age class structure with gaps in population size like the one described earlier implies a bad spawning year 3 years ago in that species. [7] Often fish in younger age class structures have very low numbers because they were small enough to slip through the sampling nets, and may in fact have a very healthy population. [8]
Diagram. It maximum length is 6.0 cm (2.4 in). [7] It has 16–18 dorsal soft rays and 13–15 anal soft rays. Males have a supracaudal gland, while females have an infracaudal luminous gland made of two heart-shaped scales, [8] flanked by smaller, triangular luminous scales.
Clupeidae is a family of clupeiform ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings and sprats.Many members of the family have a body protected with shiny cycloid (very smooth and uniform) scales, a single dorsal fin, and a fusiform body for quick, evasive swimming and pursuit of prey composed of small planktonic animals.