Allometric Growth and Scaling of Body Form of the Spadenose Shark (<i>Scoliodon laticaudus</i>).

ABSTRACT: The versatility of the shark body form is suggested to be one of the key factors underlying their evolutionary success and persistence. Nevertheless, sharks exhibit a huge diversity of body forms and morphological adaptations. More subtly, it is increasingly evident that in many species, morphology varies through ontogeny. Multiple competing hypotheses exist explaining both the function of specific morphological structures and the interspecific distribution of these ontogenetic morphological shifts. However, existing studies are restricted to a small number of mostly large-bodied species. In this study, we report allometric scaling relationships from functionally important morphological structures in the spadenose shark (Scoliodon laticaudus). We find that a mosaic of isometric and

SUBMITTER: Gayford JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11467038 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature