Odontode
Odontodes are hard structures made of dentine and blood vessel canals that can be found on the surface of the skin or in the vicinity of orifices in various animal species. These structures are mainly found in South American armor catfish . In these species, they can often be used to determine sex .
definition
A tissue is called an odontode if the following criteria are met. The structures:
- develop as undivided dental papillae surrounded by an epithelial dental organ to delimit it from the surrounding outer skin layer.
- consist of dentin or dentin-like tissue.
- have an outer layer made of enameloid .
- do not belong to dentition in the strict sense.
- do not perform the function of teeth , i.e. H. chewing and catching food.
- form on a superficial part of the dermis .
- do not reach the height of normal teeth.
Individual evidence
- ↑ M. Hildebrand, GE Goslow: Comparative and functional anatomy of the vertebrates. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-540-00757-1 , p. 106.
- ↑ T. Orvig: A survey of Odontodes, problem in vertebrate evolution. (= Linnean Society Symposium Series). Academic Press, London 1977.