Hard skeletal covering of fish
A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as well as possible hydrodynamic advantages. The term "scale" derives from the Old French , meaning a shell pod or husk.
Scales vary enormously in size, shape, structure, and extent, ranging from strong and rigid armour plates in fishes such as shrimpfishes and boxfishes, to microscopic or absent in fishes such as eels and anglerfishes. The morphology of a scale can be used to identify the species of fish it came from. Scales originated within the jawless ostracoderms, ancestors to all jawed fishes today.
Most bony fishes are covered with the cycloid scales of salmon and carp, or the ctenoid scales of perch, or the ganoid scales of sturgeons and gars. Cartilaginous fishes (sharks and rays) are covered with placoid scales. Some species are covered instead by scutes, and others have no outer covering on part or all of the skin.
Fish scales are part of the fish's integumentary system, and are produced from the mesoderm layer of the dermis, which distinguishes them from reptile scales. The same genes involved in tooth and hair development in mammals are also involved in scale development. The placoid scales of cartilaginous fishes are also called dermal denticles and are structurally homologous with vertebrate teeth. Most fish are also covered in a layer of mucus or slime which can protect against pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and reduce surface resistance when the fish swims.
Thelodont scales.
The bony scales of thelodonts, the most abundant form of fossil fish, are well understood. The scales were formed and shed throughout the organisms' lifetimes, and quickly separated after their death.
Bone, a tissue that is both resistant to mechanical damage and relatively prone to fossilization, often preserves internal detail, which allows the histology and growth of the scales to be studied in detail. The scales comprise a non-growing "crown" composed of dentine, with a sometimes-ornamented enameloid upper surface and an aspidine base. Its growing base is made of cell-free bone, which sometimes developed anchorage structures to fix it in the side of the fish. Beyond that, there appear to be five types of bone growth, which may represent five natural groupings within the thelodonts—or a spectrum ranging between the end members meta- (or ortho-) dentine and mesodentine tissues. Each of the five scale morphs appears to resemble the scales of more derived groupings of fish, suggesting that thelodont groups may have been stem groups to succeeding clades of fish.
However, using scale morphology alone to distinguish species has some pitfalls. Within each organism, scale shape varies hugely according to body area, with intermediate forms appearing between different areas—and to make matters worse, scale morphology may not even be constant within one area. To confuse things further, scale morphologies are not unique to taxa, and may be indistinguishable on the same area of two different species.
The morphology and histology of thelodonts provides the main tool for quantifying their diversity and distinguishing between species, although ultimately using such convergent traits is prone to errors. Nonetheless, a framework comprising three groups has been proposed based upon scale morphology and histology. Comparisons to modern shark species have shown that thelodont scales were functionally similar to those of modern cartilaginous fish, and likewise has allowed an extensive comparison between ecological niches.
Cosmoid scales.
Cosmoid scales are found only on ancient lobe-finned fishes, including some of the earliest lungfishes (subclass Dipnoi), and in Crossopterygii, including the living coelacanth in a modified form (see elasmoid scales, below). They were probably derived from a fusion of placoid-ganoid scales. The inner part of the scales is made of dense lamellar bone called isopedine. On top of this lies a layer of spongy or vascular bone supplied with blood vessels, followed by a complex dentine-like layer called cosmine with a superficial outer coating of vitrodentine. The upper surface is keratin. Cosmoid scales increase in size through the growth of the lamellar bone layer.
Elasmoid scales.
Elasmoid scales are thin, imbricated scales composed of a layer of dense, lamellar collagen bone called isopedine, above which is a layer of tubercles usually composed of bone, as in "Eusthenopteron". The layer of dentine that was present in the first lobe-finned fish is usually reduced, as in the extant coelacanth, or entirely absent, as in extant lungfish and in the Devonian "Eusthenopteron". Elasmoid scales have appeared several times over the course of fish evolution. They are present in some lobe-finned fishes, such as all extant and some extinct lungfishes, as well as the coelacanths which have modified cosmoid scales that lack cosmine and are thinner than true cosmoid scales. They are also present in some tetrapodomorphs like "Eusthenopteron", amiids, and teleosts, whose cycloid and ctenoid scales represent the least mineralized elasmoid scales.
The zebrafish elasmoid scales are used in the lab to study bone mineralization process, and can be cultured (kept) outside of the organism.
Ganoid scales.
Ganoid scales are found in the sturgeons, paddlefishes, gars, bowfin, and bichirs. They are derived from cosmoid scales and often have serrated edges. They are covered with a layer of hard enamel-like dentine in the place of cosmine, and a layer of inorganic bone salt called "ganoine" in place of vitrodentine.
Ganoine is a characteristic component of ganoid scales. It is a glassy, often multi-layered mineralized tissue that covers the scales, as well as the cranial bones and fin rays in some non-teleost ray-finned fishes, such as gars, bichirs, and coelacanths. It is composed of rod-like apatite crystallites. Ganoine is an ancient feature of ray-finned fishes, being found for example on the scales of stem group actinopteryigian "Cheirolepis". While often considered a synapomorphic character of ray-finned fishes, ganoine or ganoine-like tissues are also found on the extinct acanthodii. It has been suggested ganoine is homologous to tooth enamel in vertebrates or even considered a type of enamel.
Most ganoid scales are rhomboidal (diamond-shaped) and connected by peg-and-socket joints. They are usually thick and fit together more like a jigsaw rather than overlapping like other scales. In this way, ganoid scales are nearly impenetrable and are excellent protection against predation.
In sturgeons, the scales are greatly enlarged into armour plates along the sides and back, while in the bowfin the scales are greatly reduced in thickness to resemble cycloid scales.
Native Americans and people of the Caribbean used the tough ganoid scales of the alligator gar for arrow heads, breastplates, and as shielding to cover plows. In current times jewellery is made from these scales.
Leptoid scales.
Leptoid (bony-ridge) scales are found on higher-order bony fish, the teleosts (the more derived clade of ray-finned fishes). The outer part of these scales fan out with bony ridges while the inner part is criss-crossed with fibrous connective tissue. Leptoid scales are thinner and more translucent than other types of scales, and lack the hardened enamel-like or dentine layers. Unlike ganoid scales, further scales are added in concentric layers as the fish grows.
Leptoid scales overlap in a head-to-tail configuration, like roof tiles, making them more flexible than cosmoid and ganoid scales. This arrangement allows a smoother flow of water over the body, and reduces drag. The scales of some species exhibit bands of uneven seasonal growth called "annuli" (singular "annulus"). These bands can be used to age the fish.
Leptoid scales come in two forms: "cycloid" (smooth) and "ctenoid" (comb-like).
Cycloid scales.
Cycloid (circular) scales have a smooth texture and are uniform, with a smooth outer edge or margin. They are most common on fish with soft fin rays, such as salmon and carp.
Ctenoid scales.
Ctenoid (toothed) scales are like cycloid scales, except they have small teeth or spinules called ctenii along their outer or posterior edges. Because of these teeth, the scales have a rough texture. They are usually found on fishes with spiny fin rays, such as the perch-like fishes. These scales contain almost no bone, being composed of a surface layer containing hydroxyapatite and calcium carbonate and a deeper layer composed mostly of collagen. The enamel of the other scale types is reduced to superficial ridges and ctenii.
Ctenoid scales, similar to other epidermal structures, originate from placodes and distinctive cellular differentiation makes them exclusive from other structures that arise from the integument. Development starts near the caudal fin, along the lateral line of the fish. The development process begins with an accumulation of fibroblasts between the epidermis and dermis. Collagen fibrils begin to organize themselves in the dermal layer, which leads to the initiation of mineralization. The circumference of the scales grows first, followed by thickness when overlapping layers mineralize together.
Ctenoid scales can be further subdivided into three types:
Most ray-finned fishes have ctenoid scales. Some species of flatfishes have ctenoid scales on the eyed side and cycloid scales on the blind side, while other species have ctenoid scales in males and cycloid scales in females.
Reflection.
Many teleost fish are covered with highly reflective scales which function as small mirrors and give the appearance of silvered glass. Reflection through silvering is widespread or dominant in fish of the open sea, especially those that live in the top 100 metres. A transparency effect can be achieved by silvering to make an animal's body highly reflective. At medium depths at sea, light comes from above, so a mirror oriented vertically makes animals such as fish invisible from the side.
The marine hatchetfish is extremely flattened laterally (side to side), leaving the body just millimetres thick, and the body is so silvery as to resemble aluminium foil. The mirrors consist of microscopic structures similar to those used to provide structural coloration: stacks of between 5 and 10 crystals of guanine spaced about ¼ of a wavelength apart to interfere constructively and achieve nearly 100 per cent reflection. In the deep waters that the hatchetfish lives in, only blue light with a wavelength of 500 nanometres percolates down and needs to be reflected, so mirrors 125 nanometres apart provide good camouflage.
Most fish in the upper ocean are camouflaged by silvering. In fish such as the herring, which lives in shallower water, the mirrors must reflect a mixture of wavelengths, and the fish accordingly has crystal stacks with a range of different spacings. A further complication for fish with bodies that are rounded in cross-section is that the mirrors would be ineffective if laid flat on the skin, as they would fail to reflect horizontally. The overall mirror effect is achieved with many small reflectors, all oriented vertically.
Fish scales with these properties are used in some cosmetics, since they can give a shimmering effect to makeup and lipstick.
Placoid scales.
Placoid (pointed, tooth-shaped) scales are found in the cartilaginous fishes: sharks, rays. They are also called dermal denticles. Placoid scales are structurally homologous with vertebrate teeth ("denticle" translates to "small tooth"), having a central pulp cavity supplied with blood vessels, surrounded by a conical layer of dentine, all of which sits on top of a rectangular basal plate that rests on the dermis. The outermost layer is composed of vitrodentine, a largely inorganic enamel-like substance. Placoid scales cannot grow in size, but rather more scales are added as the fish increases in size.
Similar scales can also be found under the head of the denticle herring. The amount of scale coverage is much less in rays.
Rhomboidal scales with the properties of both placoid and ganoid scales are suspected to exist in modern jawed fish ancestors: jawless ostracoderms and then jawed placoderms.
Shark skin.
Shark skin is almost entirely covered by small placoid scales. The scales are supported by spines, which feel rough when stroked in a backward direction, but when flattened by the forward movement of water, create tiny vortices that reduce hydrodynamic drag and reduce turbulence, making swimming both more efficient and quieter compared to that of bony fishes. It also serves a role in anti-fouling by exhibiting the lotus effect.
All denticles are composed of an interior pulp cavity with a nervous and arterial supply rooted in the dermis to supply the denticle with mucus. Denticles contain riblet structures that protrude from the surface of the scale; under a microscope this riblet can look like a hook or ridges coming out of the scale. The overall shape of the protrusion from the denticle is dependent on the type of shark and