<div style='margin-bottom: 20px;'> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: #f2f2f2; border-radius: 1rem; padding: 10px 20px;"> <h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 1.5rem;">What are the primary functions of the fish skeletal system?</h2> <p style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2rem;">The primary functions include providing support, protection for vital organs, rigidity, and surfaces for muscular attachments, along with binding, weight bearing, and serving as a reservoir for calcium and phosphate ions.</p> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: #f2f2f2; border-radius: 1rem; padding: 10px 20px;"> <h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 1.5rem;">What are the main components of the fish skeleton?</h2> <p style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2rem;">The main components include bone, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.</p> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: #f2f2f2; border-radius: 1rem; padding: 10px 20px;"> <h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 1.5rem;">How is the vertebral column of fish characterized?</h2> <p style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2rem;">It is characterized by inter-metameric vertebrae connected by elastic ligaments, comprising a vertebral body, neural arches, and ventral arches.</p> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: #f2f2f2; border-radius: 1rem; padding: 10px 20px;"> <h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 1.5rem;">What distinguishes the bones of cartilaginous fishes from those of other fish?</h2> <p style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2rem;">The fin rays of cartilaginous fishes are slender, unsegmented, horny, and known as actinotrichia, differing from the bony segments of dermal origin in other fish.</p> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: #f2f2f2; border-radius: 1rem; padding: 10px 20px;"> <h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 1.5rem;">How do osteocytes, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts contribute to bone formation and maintenance?</h2> <p style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2rem;">Osteocytes, derived from osteoblasts, are present in bone lacunae; osteoblasts secrete the bone matrix, and osteoclasts dissolve the matrix using lysosomal enzymes.</p> </div> </div>