Morphology and distribution of the minute tubercles on the skin surface of larvae in the Korean endemic bitterling, Acheilognathus somjinensis (pisces, cyprinidae), with its larval growth

Abstract

Morphology and distribution of the minute tubercles projected on the skin surface of larvae with its development were observed in the Korean bitterling, Acheilognathus somjinensis. The minute tubercles appeared to be two distinct morphologies, hemispheric or scaly and vestigial structures. Just after hatching, the epidermis of the larvae consists of a thin single cell layer having smaller basophilic flat or round‐flattened basal cells. As the larvae grow, the epidermis contains more small flat cells and large epidermal cells which are round and hemispheric, or scale‐shaped, called minute tubercles. They are distributed over the anterior part and most part of yolk sac, posterior region of yolk sac and the body region. Vestigial epidermal cells, another minute tubercle, occur only in the caudal fin‐fold region, which they are shrunken and flattened, causing the cell boundary to be unclear. They increase in number and height from just to 5 days after hatching, but they become reduced as the larvae develop gradually. The required time for those disappearance was different each by regional body: at day 20 after hatching in the anteriormost part of yolk sac, and day 11 after hatching in the posterior part of yolk sac and the body, and day 21 after hatching in two regions such most part of the yolk sac and the caudal fin‐fold regions.