Organisation spatiale des fibres de collagene de la plaque basale des ecailles des Teleosteens

Spatial organization of collagenous fibrils in the basal plate of elasmoid scales has been studied in 36 species among 24 teleost families which include the whole order. Angle measurements of the various fibrillary directions were performed on fracture surfaces in frozen scales observed with the scanning electron microscope. The organization of the basal plate is arrayed in three basic patterns. The most remarkable one, found in the more “primitive” families, is a double twisted plywood with a left-handed rotation of the fibrillary directions. The remaining two are an orthogonal plywood, more or less regular, and an “intermediate” plywood, both found among the more “advanced” families. However, an orthogonal plywood is also observed in some “primitive” families, for example in Clupeidae and Salmonidae. We tentatively interpret the left-handed double twisted plywood of the lower teleosteans and of Amiidae as a synapomorphy in relation to the primitive condition of an actinopterygian lineage. On the other hand, within the teleosts, we would consider that the double twisted plywood is a plesiomorphic condition and that the orthogonal plywood is an apomorphy among the “advanced” teleosts families.