Whole-body variational modularity in the zebrafish: an inside-out story of a model species.

ABSTRACT: Actinopterygians are the most diversified clade of extant vertebrates. Their impressive morphological disparity bears witness to tremendous ecological diversity. Modularity, the organization of biological systems into quasi-independent anatomical/morphological units, is thought to increase evolvability of organisms and facilitate morphological diversification. Our study aims to quantify patterns of variational modularity in a model actinopterygian, the zebrafish (Danio rerio), using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics on osteological structures isolated from micro-CT scans. A total of 72 landmarks were digitized along cranial and postcranial ossified regions of 30 adult zebrafishes. Two methods were used to test modularity hypotheses, the covariance ratio and the distance matr

SUBMITTER: Vanhaesebroucke O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9943880 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature