Paired appendage that consists of the anterior appendicular skeleton and associated soft and hard tissues, but excludes the pectoral girdle and its associated soft and hard tissues.
Comment:
[homology-note] "While the skeletons of teleost pectoral fins and tetrapod forelimbs are homologous at the level of endoskeletal radials, teleosts and tetrapods do not share homologous skeletal elements at the level of 'individuated' pro-, meso-, and metapterygia. Among osteichthyans, only basal actinopterygians retain the full complement of elements present in non-osteichthyan gnathostomes.[uncertain][VHOG]" xsd:string {date_retrieved="2012-09-17", external_class="VHOG:0001753", ontology="VHOG", source="DOI:10.1002/jmor.10264 Davis MC, Shubin NH, Force A, Pectoral fin and girdle development in the basal actinopterygians Polyodon spathula and Acipenser transmontanus. Journal of Morphology (2004)", source="http://bgee.unil.ch/"}