SCALE TRANSPLANTATION IN THE GOLDFISH CARASSIUS AURATUS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
I. Over 240 autotrans-plants and 1050 homeotransplants of tissue-bearing scales have been made. The following varieties of gold-fish were used: brown, brown changing to red, red or gold, red and silver, the common shubunkin, the transparent shubunkin. All tissue elements remained intact in autotransplants, and no tissue antagonism was observed. Chromatophores spread from a pigmented transplant to surrounding unpigmented tissue or if the transplant was unpigmented and placed in a pigmented area it was invaded by chromatophores. Melanophores were more active than xanthophores.[long dash]II. All possible homeotransplants were made and tissue antagonism always occurred but varied in intensity. Donor chromatophores disintegrated in all cases and were frequently replaced by host chromatophores. In more extreme reactions a distinction was drawn between those showing a marked inflammation and a destruction of the horny scale and those in which the scale was dissolved without inflammation. Wide variation in results was noted, especially between observations made during 2 different seasons. The following conclusions, however, were drawn: A higher % of tissue antagonism was observed when less pigmented types were involved than when more pigmented types were used. The further removed individuals were from the characteristics of the wild form, the more likely it was that incompatibility would be found in transplants between them.