[The jugular vein system and its homologies in Latimeria chalmunae (Pisces, Crossopterygii, Coelacanthidae)].

The jugular vein of Latimeria is derived, as in actinopterygians and dipnoans, from two embryonic veins: the vena capitis medialis anteriorly and the vena capitalis lateralis posteriorly. It is continued caudally, until the Cuvieran duct, by the vena cardinalis anterior. With the enormous difference of growth between cranial box and brain, the cerebral veins have undergone important modifications. A very long antero-posterior shift exists between the origin and the ending of the anterior cerebral vein. In addition, the mid and posterior cerebral veins are transformed into big venous sinuses, which have lost, in the adult, almost any contact with the brain, impressed as they are against the wall of the posterior cranial cavity.