Figure 2.

Scanning electron micrographs of ossicles isolated from S. bromophenolosus trunk epithelium. (a) Lateral view of a typical ossicle. The arrangement and shape of crystals differ between the central shaft and the termini. (b) Higher magnification of a terminus showing polycrystalline aggregates that form highly ordered, closely packed, expanding columns or trabeculae, of plate-like crystals (tb, trabeculae). (c) Higher magnification view showing the overlapping, smooth and laminar layers that constitute the central shaft portion of the ossicle in (a). (d) Terminal view of an ossicle, showing the arrangement of trabeculae, the perforated network of holes and a net-like matrix (arrows). (e) View of the inside of a fractured terminus. (f) View of the inside of a broken shaft.