Table 2. Assessment of tissue specific mRNA expression for col1a1a, col1a1b and col1a2 at 96 hpf using whole mount in situ hybridization followed by sectioning of the samples.

	col1a1a	col1a1b	col1a2
Epithelia
epidermis	++	++	++
pectoral fin	+++	–	–
fin fold	+++	–	–
Connective tissues/fibroblasts
connective tissue around brain	+ to ++	++	+
mesenchyme below Meckel’s cartilage	++	++	+
mandibulo-hyoideal ligament	+++	++	++
tendon of muscle sternohyoideus	+++	++	+ to ++
muscle attachment to endoskeletal disk	+	+	+
myosepta	+	++	+
Bones/osteoblasts
parasphenoid	++	++	+
opercular	+++	++	++
cleithrum	++ to +++	++	+ to ++
ceratobranchials 1–4	+	+	+
ceratobranchial 5	++	++	+

The intensity of the detected signal is indicated as: not present (−), weak (+), average (++) or strong (+++).