arsanatomica:Most people think of the skull as a single bone, with a detached lower law. In reality,

arsanatomica:Most people think of the skull as a single bone, with a detached lower law. In reality, the skull is comprised of a number of smaller bones that fuse during development. It’s a primitive feature, whispering through the proliferation of osteoclasts, of an ancient arms race and a story of segmented bodies gliding through endless silent seas.These days, most mammals, birds etc, have fairly solid skulls, but the further you go down in the evolutionary latter, the looser skulls become. Fish skulls are mostly still made up of loosely connected bones, that often breakdown into their components when cleaned for study. “Articulation” is art of making sense of it all and putting it all back together. This is a Cutlass fish skull. Cutlass fish are large eel-like fish that swim vertically, darting upwards to grab prey with their very large fangs.Here’s a closeup of the fangs. They’re razor-sharp on the leading edge and barbed, making it difficult for prey to escape. -- source link
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