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Pattern formation of the ‘Tilapia mark’ in the tilapia fish, Oreochromis mossambicus
Author(s) -
Lim K. E. K.,
Lam N. H.,
Phang V. P. E.,
Lim T. M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1994.tb01309.x
Subject(s) - oreochromis mossambicus , biology , tilapia , dorsal fin , fish fin , larva , black spot , anatomy , dorsum , fin , fishery , chromatophore , zoology , fish <actinopterygii> , ecology , materials science , horticulture , composite material
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.