The formation of the face and skull involves a complex series of developmental events
mediated by cells derived from the neural crest, endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm.
Although vertebrates boast an enormous diversity of adult facial morphologies, the
fundamental signaling pathways and cellular events that sculpt the nascent craniofacial
skeleton in the embryo have proven to be highly conserved from fish to man. The zebrafish
Danio rerio, a small freshwater cyprinid fish from eastern India, has served as a popular …