...Christine Hirschberger; J. Andrew Gillis ABSTRACT The pseudobranch is a gill-like epithelial elaboration that sits behind the jaw of most fishes. This structure was classically regarded as a vestige of the ancestral gill arch-like condition of the gnathostome jaw. However, more recently, hypotheses...

... of this head are a skull protecting and accommodating a centralized nervous system, a jaw for prey capture and gills as respiratory organs. The neural crest (NC) is a major ontogenetic source for the ‘new head’ of vertebrates and its contribution to the cranial skeleton has been intensively studied...

...Michio Ogasawara; Hiroshi Wada; Heiko Peters; Nori Satoh ABSTRACT The epithelium of the pharynx contributes to the formation of gills in hemichordates, urochordates, cephalochordates and primitive vertebrates, and is therefore a key structure for understanding developmental mechanisms underlying...