ASYMMETRICAL PATTERNS OF THE EFFERENT BRANCHIAL ARTERIES IN ACANTHOPTERYGIAN FISHES

Comparison of the efferent branchial artery anatomy in representatives of six acanthopterygian fish orders showed, in several species, an as ymmetrical arrangement based in the connection between the right poste rior efferent branchial arteries and the coeliac-mesenteric trunk. The asymmetries were frequent among scorpaeniform, tetraodontiform, and z eiform representatives, whereas beryciform and perciform specimens sho wed symmetrical arrangement of their efferent branchial arteries. The right posterior efferent branchial-coeliac mesenteric trunk alignment is connected to the dorsal aorta through a transversal aortocoeliac an astomosis which receives, in several tetraodontiform and zeiform speci es, the anterior efferent branchial arteries. Thus the anterior-most d orsal aorta disappears in these species.