Feeding-Related Skull Structures of Climbing Perch Anabas testudineus (Anabantidae)

The feeding-related skull structures are described and occluding elements of the upper and lower regions of the buccopharyngeal cavity are analyzed in climbing perch. At each side of the neurocranium, the transverse process of the parasphenoid with four or five large conical teeth oppose the hypobranchial 3, and the medial teeth of the parasphenoid oppose the medial joints between paired hypobranchials 3 and ceratobranchials 4. As in the majority of other advanced Teleostei, the pharyngeal bite is carried out by the lower pharyngeal jaw (fused ceratobranchials 5) and upper pharyngeal jaws (left and right plates of pharyngobranchials 3–4). The latter jaws are articulated with paired pharyngeal processes of the basioccipital. At both sides of the skull, the strong elongated Baudelot’s ligament joins the basioccipital and supracleithrum. The hypothesis on the occurrence of the unique lower pharyngeal jaw–parasphenoid bite in climbing perch is rejected.