ABSENCE OF THE EPITHELIAL HYPOPHYSIS IN A FETAL DOGFISH ASSOCIATED WITH ABNORMALITIES OF THE HEAD AND OF PIGMENTATION

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Abstract
An anomalous fetus of the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias is described which presents malformations consisting of cyclopia, astomia, albinism and abnormalities of the hypophysis involving total absence of oral components of the gland and a deformed and poorly differentiated neural lobe. The neural lobe evidently develops abnormally because it is deprived of its usual association with the buccal hypophysis. The diminished number and contracted state of the chromatophores indicate that the melanophore-controlling principle in the dogfish is a derivative of the buccal components of the pituitary.