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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Sep 15.
Published in final edited form as: Dev Biol. 2018 Apr 6;441(2):252–261. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.04.001

Figure 4. A decrease in inter-canal neuromast distance influences facial bone fusion in cavefish.

Figure 4

Inter-canal neuromast distance was measured between CN3b and CN4 in cavefish individuals exhibiting SO3 and SO4 fusion and was compared to inter-canal neuromast distance (mm) in individuals with separate SO3 and SO4 bones (A). The normalized distance (inter-canal neuromast distance divided by standard length in mm) was significantly lower in cases of SO3+SO4 fusion compared to cases where bones were separate. This was the case for each bone event analyzed: SO4+5 fusion (B), SO5+6 fusion (C), and SO4-6 fusion (D). The total number of canal neuromasts was scored for both individuals with bone fusion events and normal bones. Interestingly, there was no significant difference between the number of canal neuromasts in the infraorbital chain for SO3+4 fusion (E), SO4+5 fusion (F), SO5+6 fusion (G), and SO4-6 fusion (H). Due to varying n numbers, the Wilcoxon/Kruskal-Wallis test for rank sums was used to determine significance. Asterisks indicate significance where p<0.0001.