The muscles | Bony Fish Cranial Muscles

The cranial muscles of bony fishes are those muscles generally associated with the head and jaws, including both the oral (anterior) jaws and the pharyngeal (posterior) jaws and the gill arches. We provide very generalized descriptions of the more common functions performed by or within the head, and those muscles responsible for these functions, including buccal pumping (ventilation), suction feeding, premaxillary protrusion, biting and tearing, and pharyngeal jaw prey processing. We present an overview of the associated musculature based largely upon anatomical location: cheek muscles, body muscles, ventral cranial muscles, pharyngeal jaw muscles, and muscles associated with the pectoral girdle, and describe which of these muscles is associated with the functions listed above.