ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an updated description of the muscles of the paired appendages of chondrichthyans and discusses the idea that the structures of the fore- and hindlimbs are serial homologues, which was first proposed by authors such as Vicq-d'Azyr (1774), Oken (1843), and Owen (1849, 1866). This idea is still accepted in most textbooks and scientific papers. However, an examination of the original works of these authors reveals that their fore- and hindlimb comparisons were almost exclusively based on bones, and almost no attention was paid to soft tissues such as muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. The chapter summarizes the results of dissections of the muscles of the paired appendages of representatives of the three major chondrichthyan extant clades (Holocephali and the Elasmobranchii clades Selachii, or sharks, and Batoidea, or rays and skates).
