ArticleJournal of anatomy2015
Polypterus and the evolution of fish pectoral musculature.
Article in Journal of anatomy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolutionary pathway and genetic mechanisms of fin-to-limb transition in vertebrates.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Walking elicits muscle functional changes in the pectoral fin of Polypterus senegalus.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Long-read sequencing reveals novel transcript diversity inAnimal cells and systems · 2025Article
- Anatomical insights into fish terrestrial locomotion: A study of barred mudskipper (Periophthalmus argentilineatus) fins based on μCT 3D reconstructions.Journal of anatomy · 2024Article
- The Water to Land Transition Submerged: Multifunctional Design of Pectoral Fins for Use in Swimming and in Association with Underwater Substrate.Integrative and comparative biology · 2022Review
- Comparative iTRAQ proteomics revealed proteins associated with lobed fin regeneration in Bichirs.Proteome science · 2019Article
- Comparative anatomy of zebrafish paired and median fin muscles: basis for functional, developmental, and macroevolutionary studies.Journal of anatomy · 2018Article
- Palaeontology: Plenty of fish in the tree.Nature · 2017Article
- Musculoskeletal anatomy of the pelvic fin of Polypterus: implications for phylogenetic distribution and homology of pre- and postaxial pelvic appendicular muscles.Journal of anatomy · 2017Article
- Characteristic tetrapod musculoskeletal limb phenotype emerged more than 400 MYA in basal lobe-finned fishes.Scientific reports · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Polypterus, a member of the most primitive living group of ray-finned fishes, has demonstrated the ability to perform fin-assisted terrestrial locomotion, a behavior that indicates a complex pectoral musculoskeletal system. Review of the literature reveals that many aspects of the pectoral muscular anatomy of Polypterus are still unclear, with a number of conflicting descriptions. We provide a new interpretation of the pectoral musculature using soft tissue-enhanced microCT scanning and gross anatomical dissection. The results demonstrate a complex musculature, with six independent muscles crossing the glenoid-fin joint. Comparisons with other bony-fish (Osteichthyes), including both ray-finned (Actinopterygii) and lobed-fin (Sarcopterygii) fish, indicate the presence of novel muscles within Polypterus: coracometapterygialis I+II and the zonopropterygialis medialis. Examination of these muscular additions in the context of osteichthyan phylogeny indicates that this represents a previously unrecognized event in the evolution of pectoral musculature in Osteichthyes. Despite its phylogenetic position as a basal actinopterygian, the musculature of Polypterus has more similarities both anatomically and functionally with that of sarcopterygians. This anatomy, along with other features of Polypterus anatomy such as lobed fins, ventral paired lungs, and a large spiracle, may make it a good model for inferences of stem tetrapod locomotion.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.