Abstract
Skeletons serve two primary biologic functions: they provide structural support (and muscle attachment) and protection for the organism. Skeletal components can also serve other purposes, such as in attachment of the organism to the substrate (for example the basal plate of cirripeds) or in feeding (the radulae of gastropods). Skeletons can be comprised of many minerals (including magnetite, goethite and fluorite) but most skeletons are composed of calcium carbonate, opaline-silica or calcium phosphate. Opaline-silica skeletons generally are restricted to the more primitive plants (such as diatoms) and animals (sarcodinans and poriferans), while calcium phosphate skeletons are best represented in the phyla Arthropoda and Vertebrata.
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© 1974 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Milliman, J.D., Müller, G., Förstner, U. (1974). Skeletal Components. In: Recent Sedimentary Carbonates. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65528-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65528-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-65530-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-65528-9
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