Honorable Mention: Skate Skeleton

Photo by Marianne Porter, Ph.D., assistant professor, biological sciences
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Skates are close relatives of stingrays and sharks and their skeleton is composed entirely of cartilage. This preserved clearnose skate (Leucoraja eglanteria) has been cleared and stained to reveal the skull and skeletal elements. A series of chemical treatments renders the tissue transparent and stains the cartilage blue. This enables researchers to study the skeleton in an intact animal. The body of the skate is comprised of individual fin rays that branch as they extend to the body margin. The large number of individually jointed elements provides tremendous flexibility to the body. The long central rostral cartilage extends from the skull, that encapsulates the nasal cavities, the eyes, and the gills. The clear panes on either side of the rostral cartilage are windows of translucent tissue that enable the skate to see through its snout, even in an intact animal that has not been chemically cleared.