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From: thau@h-sc1.UUCP (robert thau)
Newsgroups: net.bio
Subject: Re: Morphological Asymmetry
Message-ID: <569@h-sc1.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 21-Sep-85 19:31:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: h-sc1.569
Posted: Sat Sep 21 19:31:05 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Sep-85 07:48:05 EDT
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Distribution: net
Organization: Harvard Univ. Science Center
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> I remember hearing that there are two taxa of flounders, left-
> eyed and right-eyed.

There are both left-eyed and right-eyed flounder, but single species can
(and do) have left-eyed and right-eyed individuals; they are not two taxa.
(Oddly enough, in at least one species extending across the Pacific, the
percentage of left-eyed flounder is about 50% near Japan and only about
10% near California).

> A more general question: how do cells in the embryo know "where
> they are" on the body plan?  How does a cell know it's going to
> be part of a big toe and not an eyelid?  I've been trying to
> find someone who will venture an answer to this one for years.
> -- 
> John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!shipman

I've read some recent embryology; *nobody* knows yet.