▁habit ats . ▁They ▁are ▁best ▁known ▁for ▁their ▁ability ▁to ▁lose ▁their ▁skin ▁and ▁scales ▁when ▁grasp ed ▁by ▁a ▁pred ator . ▁ ▁Sk in ▁and ▁scales ▁ ▁The ▁scales ▁of ▁Ge ck ole pis ▁are ▁im br ic ated ▁( over la pping ) ▁and ▁o ss ified . ▁Hist ological ▁studies ▁on ▁the ▁scales ▁were ▁performed ▁as ▁early ▁as ▁ 1 9 1 1 ▁by ▁Wilhelm ▁Josef ▁Schmidt . ▁Schmidt ▁noted ▁the ▁heter ogene ity ▁and ▁im br ic ation ▁of ▁the ▁scales , ▁which ▁makes ▁mer istics ▁difficult ▁on ▁Ge ck ole pis . ▁Schmidt ▁noted ▁that ▁the ▁im br ic ation ▁of ▁the ▁scales ▁was ▁a ▁result ▁of ▁their ▁fol ding , ▁essentially ▁being ▁bil ayer ed ▁rather ▁than ▁mon ol ayer ed . ▁He ▁showed ▁also ▁that ▁the ▁scale ▁cent res ▁are ▁o ss ified , ▁formed ▁from ▁irregular ▁cry st als , ▁which ▁he ▁illustrated ▁in ▁some ▁detail . ▁In ▁their ▁micro - CT ▁sc ans , ▁Sch er z ▁et ▁al . ▁found ▁that ▁the ▁scales ▁of ▁G . ▁meg ale pis ▁and ▁other ▁species ▁have ▁the ▁same ▁degree ▁of ▁x - ray ▁at ten u ation ▁as ▁b one , ▁and ▁concluded ▁that ▁this ▁suggested ▁the ▁presence ▁of ▁o ste od erm ▁as ▁well . ▁They ▁noted ▁that , ▁like ▁in ▁Schmidt ' s ▁illustr ations , ▁a ▁zone ▁toward ▁the ▁tip ▁of ▁the ▁scales ▁la cks ▁o ss ifications ▁as ▁visible ▁in ▁micro - CT ▁sc ans . ▁Pal uh ▁et ▁al