Dermatoglyphic ridge count in Israeli Jewish males

In a sample of 620 Israeli Jewish males, the mean total finger ridge-count was 143.78. The ridge-count was slightly higher on the right hand than on the left (72.74 vs. 71.04). The mean ridge-counts in decreasing order of magnitude were for fingers I, IV, V, III, II of the left hand and for fingers I, IV, V, II, III of the right hand. The mean ridge-count of each pattern type also depended on finger location. The higher correlation coefficients occurred between the homologous fingers. The ridge-count of the first finger correlated only minimally with that of the other fingers. The mean a-b ridge-count was 77.47 (39.39 on the left hand and 38.08 on the right). Separate analysis of Jewish groups of different geographic origin showed close conformity of the majority of characteristics studied.