Meckel's Cartilage

Meckel's cartilage [′mek·əlz ‚kärt·lij]

(embryology)

The cartilaginous axis of the mandibular arch in the embryo and fetus.

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Meckel’s Cartilage 

the primary mandible in gnathostomes and man, named for J. Meckel.

In all fish (except the cartilaginous group) and terrestrial vertebrates, Meckel’s cartilage is clad in integumentary bones and may itself be partly or completely ossified. The ossified posterior section of Meckel’s cartilage, the articular bone, joins the quadrate bone at the mandibular joint. In mammals, the articular and quadrate bones become the auditory ossicles (the malleolus and the incus); the remaining part of Meckel’s cartilage is reduced (preserved only in the embryo).