Fibrocartilage is harder to recognize
than hyaline cartilage because there are so many collagen fibers
embedded in the matrix. The chondrocytes are not obvious in this
image.
Now you can see the chondrocytes (ch) more clearly. Their nuclei
look like little dots inside the lacunae. The black lines are
the collagen fibers in the matrix.
The chondrocytes (ch) are located in lacunae (cavities in the maxtrix). Their nuclei (nuc) look like dark spots in the lacunae. Although the ground substance in fibrocartilage and hyaline cartilage is made of the same materials (hyaluronic acid and complex organic molecules), fibrocartilage looks a lot different because of the number of collagen fibers embedded in the matrix. If you think you are looking at cartilage because you see chondrocytes, the only thing you have to see to know whether it is fibrocartilage or hyaline cartilage are the cartilage fibers.