A Guide For The Dissection Of The Dogfish Squalus Acanthias

A Guide for the Dissection of the Dogfish is a book by Lawrence Edmonds Griffin. It covers the examination and dissection of the spiny dogfish, a small shark that abounds along the coasts of the United States.

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Excerpt from A Guide for the Dissection of the Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias) The spindle-shaped body tapers from near the middle toward both head and tail; the head is flattened on both the dorsal and ventral sides, while the remainder of the body is nearly round, with a lateral compression which is not pronounced except in the caudal portion. The general color of the back and sides is gray; darkest above, where the skin is spotted with scattered, small, round, light spots. The color of the upper parts shades into the yellow white of the ventral surface. Can head, trunk, and tail regions be distinguished? If so, what characters determine the extent of each? A little above the middle of the side of the body is the lateral line, (distinguished partly by color, partly by being slightly elevated), which extends from the back of the head to the tail. Cut through the skin across the lateral line at several points along the body and notice the canal which lies in the dermis under the lateral line. This is the lateral line canal, which opens to the surface by numerous pores (too minute to be seen), and contains a series of special sense organs along its dorsal and inner surfaces. Near the base of the caudal fin the lateral line canal passes into a groove which continues the lateral line to within a short distance of the edge of the fin. The lateral line canal in its development begins as a groove along the side of the body which becomes closed by the fusion of its edge except in this terminal portion. The open groove does not appear in Eugaleus. In the midline of the body are two triangular dorsal fins, each attached to the body for about half its length. The basal portion of each is thick and muscular, and contains supporting cartilages embedded in the muscles. The remainder of the fin is flexible and semi-transparent, horny finrays being faintly visible between the layers of skin. In front of each fin is a strong spine which seems to serve both as a cutwater and a weapon of defense. (Eugaleus has no spines.) The broad, paired, pectoral fins, having the general characteristics of the dorsals, spring from the ventral edges of the body just back of the head. A hard bar of cartilage connecting the bases of the pectoral fins can be felt through the skin of the ventral surface of the body. This is the ventral part of the pectoral girdle. Farther back, and also on the ventral surface, are the paired pelvic fins. The pelvic girdle can be felt through the skin between the bases of these fins. If the specimen is a male, it will have a fingerlike process projecting backward from the base and along the inner side of each pelvic fin. These organs, which attain a considerable size in adults, are modified portions of the pelvic fin used as copulatory organs. They are named variously claspers, myxopterygia, or pterygopodia. A groove runs along the dorsal side of the clasper from the tip to near the base, where it opens into a long sac (glandula pterygopodia) extending some distance in front of the pelvic fins just within the skin of the ventral surface. By feeling a cartilaginous axis of the clasper can be discovered, which extends to the tip of the organ. On the dorsal surface and near the end of the clasper is a sharp grooved spine on the outer side, and a strongly recurved hook on the inner side, both almost hidden by a flap projecting from the inner edge of the groove. This flap is stiffened by a series of small cartilages similar to the radial cartilages in the bases of the fins. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.