The Weberian apparatus is an anatomical structure that connects the swim bladder to the auditory system in fishes belonging to the Superorder Ostariophysi. When it is fully developed in adult fish, the elements of the apparatus are sometimes collectively referred to as the Weberian ossicles. The presence of the structure is one of the most important and phylogenetically significant distinguishing characteristics of the Ostariophysi. The structure itself consists of a set of minute bones that originate from the first few vertebrae to develop in an embryonic ostariophysan. These bones grow to physically connect the auditory system, specifically the inner ear to the swim bladder.
Read more about Weberian Apparatus: Structural Anatomy and Function, Embryology, Evolutionary History, Etymology
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“Man is the end of nature; nothing so easily organizes itself in every part of the universe as he; no moss, no lichen is so easily born; and he takes along with him and puts out from himself the whole apparatus of society and condition extempore, as an army encamps in a desert, and where all was just now blowing sand, creates a white city in an hour, a government, a market, a place for feasting, for conversation, and for love.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)