Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2017, 66, 1, 21–46 https://doi.org/10.3176/earth.2017.01 Gill rakers and teeth of three pleuronectiform species (Teleostei) of the Baltic Sea: a microichthyological approach Tiiu Märssa, Mark V. H. Wilsonb, Toomas Saata and Heli Špileva a Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Mäealuse St. 14, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia;
[email protected],
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[email protected] b Department of Biological Sciences and Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada, and Department of Biology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA;
[email protected] Received 16 September 2016, accepted 14 November 2016 Abstract. In this microichthyological study the teeth and bony cores of gill rakers of three pleuronectiform species [European plaice Pleuronectes platessa Linnaeus, 1758 and European flounder Platichthys flesus trachurus (Duncer, 1892), both in the Pleuronectidae, and turbot Scophthalmus maximus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Scophthalmidae] of the Baltic Sea are SEM imaged, described and compared for the first time. The shape and number of teeth in jaws and on pharyngeal tooth plates as well as the shape, size and number of the bony cores of gill rakers in these taxa differ. The European plaice and European flounder carry incisiform teeth anteriorly in their jaws and smoothly rounded, molariform teeth on pharyngeal tooth plates; the teeth of the plaice are more robust. The gill rakers have similar gross morphology, occurring as separate conical thornlets on gill arches. The bony cores of these thornlets (rakers) consist of vertical ribs with connective segments between them.