The lake sturgeon, with its sleek shape and rows of bony plates on its sides, looks a bit like an armored torpedo. These freshwater giants have greenish-grey coloring and elongated, spade-like ...

Reptiles are air-breathing vertebrates covered in special skin made up of scales, bony plates, or a combination of both. They include crocodiles, snakes, lizards, turtles, and tor- toises.

Beneath the chin lie large, bony plates. The coelacanth has large eyes attached to thick optic nerves. Each eye has few cones, which register color, but many rods, which detect light. So the ...

A bony plate of armor called an osteoderms from the trunk region of Garzapelta muelleri. Top image is the osteoderm as seen from above. The bottom image is the osteoderm seen from the side.