Pattern formation of the 'Tilapia mark' in the tilapia fish, Oreochromis mossambicus |
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Authors: | K. E. K. Lim N. H. Lam V. P. E. Phang T. M. Lim |
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Affiliation: | Department of Zoology, National University of Singapore, 10, Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 0511 |
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Abstract: | The dorsal fin of the larval and juvenile Oreochromis mossambicus exhibits a unique black spot known as the ' Tilapia mark'. We traced its development and found that it occupied a specific position in the dorsal fin bounded by rays 15 and 20. Ablation experiments carried out on the larval dorsal fin showed that this spot region constituted a developmental positional field. This positional field in the fin could regenerate and re-establish the spot pattern despite repeated perturbation. The re-establishment of spot was not simply due to fin injury since ablation of the non-spotted region of the dorsal and the tail fin did not result in aggregation of melanophores. We propose that that' Tilapia mark' is a result of positional information in operation. |
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Keywords: | pattern formation positional information tilapia melanophores fin |
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