About some skeletal particularities of the first vertebrae related to the mode of prey capture in Uranoscopus scaber (Uranoscopidae)

Huet L., Goosse V., Parmentier E., Vandewalle P.

Date de parution: avril 1999
Volume: 23
Number: 2
Pagination: 161-167
Editeur: Société Française d'Ichtyologie
doi: https://doi.org/10.26028/cybium/1999-232-004
Résumé

Feeding in Uranoscopus scaber is characterised by bending of the body just behind the head. Bending is related to the organisation of the first five vertebrae: vertebral centra of lesser height fitting one into the next; short, less tilted neural spines, presence of many intervertebral ligaments. Bending of the vertebral column causes the head to rotate upward and the mouth to open just beneath the prey; it also brings the pharyngeal jaws, shifted with respect to each other at rest, to face each other.

Mots-clés: Feeding - Uranoscopidae - Uranoscopus scaber - Vertebral column
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