STRUCTURE AND MINERALIZATION OF THE SCUTE S IN OSTRACION LENTIGINOSUM(TELEOSTEI, TETRAODONTIFORME, OSTRACIIDAE)

The present study describes the morphology, the structure and the mine ralization of the scutes of an Ostraciidae (Ostracion lentiginosum). T he model of organization of the scute with its two opposite mineralize d plates separated by an unmineralized dense collagenous network is ve ry unlike that of an elasmoid scale. The collagenous fibers of the bas al part of the scute constitute complex tridimensional networks. Large parts of the acute are unmineralized and mineralization progresses th anks to Mandl's corpuscles. No observed characters allow to establish close relationships between ostraciid scutes and the typical elasmoid scale without an ontogenetic study.