Contribution of a teleost fish to the digital osteological atlas of vertebrates: implications for scientific research and education in comparative anatomy.

In the course of the history of comparative anatomy, four main types of meaning have been given to the comparison of living beings. Among these, the identification of connections between parts of organisms gained momentum from Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire onwards, and continues today through phylogenetic purposes. However, anatomists divided themselves into taxonomic sectors between which exchanges remained tenuous, if not non-existent. As a result, we have yet to discover osteological homologies between tetrapods and teleosts, even though these groups have been extensively studied. As an example, we would like to present here the integration of a fully digitized teleost fish skeleton into the Vertebrates application, a digital osteological atlas enabling homologies between different skeletons to be illuminated. This example highlights homologies that are generally not provided in most comparative anatomy treatises, and illustrates the link between the pedagogical dissemination of knowledge and research questions. From a pedagogical and practical point of view, digital exploration of a teleost skeleton is a useful complement to dissection, especially of the smallest bones, and is particularly useful for any student learning comparative anatomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]