Comparative developmental osteology of the seahorse skeleton reveals heterochrony amongst Hippocampus sp. and progressive caudal fin loss

摘要

BackgroundSeahorses are well known for their highly derived head shape, prehensile tail and armoured body. They belong to the family of teleosts known as Syngnathidae, which also includes the pipefishes, pipehorses and seadragons. Very few studies have investigated the development of the skeleton of seahorses because larvae are extremely difficult to obtain in the wild and breeding in captivity is rarely successful. Here we compare the developmental osteology of Hippocampus reidi over an ontogenetic series spanning the first 93 days after release from the brood pouch to that of a smaller series of Hippocampus; namely H. subelongatus.