Odontode

Odontodes, or dermal teeth, are hard structures found on the external surfaces of animals or near internal openings. They consist of a soft pulp surrounded by dentine and covered by a mineralized substance such as enamel, a structure similar to that of teeth.[1] They generally do not have the same function as teeth, and are not replaced the same way teeth are in most fish.[2] In some animals (notably catfish), the presence or size of odontodes can be used in determining the sex.[3]

The name comes from the Greek "odon" meaning tooth.

Images

A New Species of Hisonotus (Siluriformes, Loricariidae) of the Upper Rı´o Uruguay Basin (see page 7) An article showing scanning electron microscope images of odontodes on a catfish. Author:Adriana E. Aquino, Scott A. Schaefer, Amalia M. Miquelarena. Publisher: The American Museum of Natural History.

gollark: 851 kilogood.
gollark: Am I just supposed to MANUALLY check the Maclaurin serieseseses of all the functions I use for this sort of thing?
gollark: Also, how can we prove that common special functions don't have this kind of backdoor?
gollark: See, this is what I'm worried about.
gollark: Those are probably contaminated.

See also

  • Dermal denticle

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.