Meckel's cartilage

Japanese: メッケル軟骨 - メッケルなんこつ（英語表記）Meckel’s cartilage

A pair of rod-shaped cartilages that develop in the same place in the lower jaw of vertebrates before the bony skeleton is formed. It is named after the German comparative anatomist JF Meckel (1781-1833), who discovered it. In cartilaginous fish, the skeleton of the upper jaw is the "palatine quadrate cartilage" and the skeleton of the lower jaw is the "mandibular cartilage," both of which are bilaterally symmetrical U-shaped cartilages. Together, the upper and lower arches are called the "mandibular arch," and are thought to be modified versions of the gill skeleton (visceral arch) of ancestral animals that did not have jawbones.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

脊椎動物の下あごにおいて，骨性骨格が形成される前に同じ場所に発生する左右1対の棒状の軟骨。これを発見したドイツの比較解剖学者メッケルJ.F.Meckel(1781‐1833)にちなむ名称。軟骨魚類においては，上あごの骨格は〈口蓋方形軟骨〉，下あごの骨格は〈下顎（かがく）軟骨〉という左右相称のU字形の軟骨で，上下を合わせて〈顎弓〉と呼び，顎骨をもたない段階の祖先動物のえらの骨格(内臓弓)が変形したものと考えられている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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