Figure 3 in Morphological and histological study of the scales of the grey notothen, Lepidonotothen squamifrons (Günther 1880) (Nototheniidae; Perciformes; Teleostei)

Figure 3. – Transversal ground sections of a scale. A-B: Respectively transmitted natural light and polarized light showing the external layer (el) and the successive collagenous layers of the basal plate (bp). A: The arrowheads point to mineralized corpuscles of the basal plate under a radius (black asterisk). The white asterisks point to the mineralized part of the basal plate. B: In the basal plate (bp) lighted layers alternate with dark layers, indicating an orthogonal plywood-like organization. (el = external layer). C: X-ray showing the external layer (el) slightly hypermineralized relatively to the basal plate (white arrows) that is incompletely mineralized (white asterisks). The section crosses a radius (r) that is not mineralized. The arrow-head points to several mineralized Mandl's corpuscles at the bottom of the radius (compare this X-ray preparation to Fig. 3A). Scale bars: A = 10 μm; B, C = 20 μm.