SPECIES‐SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES IN ADAPTIVE PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN AN ECOLOGICALLY RELEVANT TROPHIC TRAIT: HYPERTROPHIC LIPS IN MIDAS CICHLID FISHES

The spectacular species richness of cichlids and their diversity in morphology, coloration, and behavior have made them an ideal model for the study of speciation and adaptive evolution. Hypertrophic lips evolved repeatedly and independently in African and Neotropical cichlid radiations. Cichlids with hypertrophic lips forage predominantly in rocky crevices and it has been hypothesized that mechanical stress caused by friction could result in larger lips through phenotypic plasticity. To test the influence of the environment on the size and development of lips, we conducted a series of breeding and feeding experiments on Midas cichlids. Full‐sibs of Amphilophus labiatus (thick‐lipped) and Amphilophus citrinellus (thin‐lipped) each were split into a control group which was fed food from the water column and a treatment group whose food was fixed to substrates. We found strong evidence for phenotypic plasticity on lip area in the thick‐lipped species, but not in the thin‐lipped species. Intermediate phenotypic values were observed in hybrids from thick‐ and thin‐lipped species reared under “control” conditions. Thus, both a genetic, but also a phenotypic plastic component is involved in the development of hypertrophic lips in Neotropical cichlids. Moreover, species‐specific adaptive phenotypic plasticity was found, suggesting that plasticity is selected for in recent thick‐lipped species.     

Getting into Shape: An Empirical Comparison of Traditional Truss-Based Morphometric Methods with a Newer Geometric Method Applied to New World Cichlids

Body shape is a difficult, but important, trait to quantify. Researchers have traditionally used multivariate analysis of several linear measures ('trusses') across the body form to quantify shape. Newer geometric morphometric methods claim to better estimate shape because they analyze the geometry among the locations of all landmarks simultaneously rather than the linear distances between pairs of landmarks. We tested this claim by comparing the results of several traditional morphometric analyses against a newer geometric analysis involving thin-plate splines (TPS), all applied to a common data set of morphologically variable new world cichlids Amphilophus citrinellus and A. zaliosus. The TPS method yielded slightly stronger evidence of morphological differences among forms, although traditional methods also distinguished the two species. Perhaps our most important result was the idiosyncratic interpretation of shape variation among the traditional truss-based methods, whereas the generation of deformation grids using the TPS approach yielded clear and visually interpretable figures. Our results indicate that geometric morphometrics can be a more effective way to analyze and interpret body form, but also that traditional methods can be relied upon to provide statistical evidence of shape differences, although not necessarily accurate information about the nature of variation in shape.     

橘色双冠丽鱼体色相关基因mc1r的组织表达分析

黑素皮质素受体1基因(mc1r)是动物体色形成的关键调控因子,为探讨mc1r基因在橘色双冠丽鱼(Amphilophus citrinellus)体色褪黑过程中的调控作用,本研究利用cDNA末端快速克隆(RACE)技术首次获得橘色双冠丽鱼mc1r的cDNA全序列,并利用荧光定量PCR分析了橘色双冠丽鱼体色变化不同时期和不同组织中mc1r基因的表达差异。获得cDNA全长序列1 699 bp,共编码氨基酸325个,开放阅读框(ORF)为978 bp,5′非编码区(UTR)497 bp,3′非编码区(UTR)224 bp。氨基酸序列和系统发育分析表明,橘色双冠丽鱼与人(Homo sapiens)、斑马鱼(Danion rerio)、大黄鱼(Larimichthys crocea)和尼罗罗非鱼(Oreochromis niloticus)相似度分别为55.1%、77.1%、90.15%和96.92%。荧光定量PCR结果表明,mc1r在橘色双冠丽鱼胚胎发育9个时期均有不同程度的表达,且随着胚胎发育表达量逐渐减少,推测在胚胎发育的早期阶段该基因的基础表达水平即可启动参与体色细胞形成的腺苷酸循环。在"黑色-灰白色-黄色"三个体色蜕变期,mc1r在尾鳍、鳞片、皮肤的表达均呈先降低再稍升高的变化趋势,均在灰白色过渡期呈现最低值,推测这与mc1r和Agouti存在竞争性结合,及mc1r、tyr、tyr1三者是否处于适当、平衡状态有关。橘色双冠丽鱼长至近成鱼期,非正常褪黑鱼(即未完全褪黑)各组织mc1r表达量均比正常褪黑鱼(完全褪黑)高,其中皮肤组织的相对表达量显著高于正常褪黑鱼(P 0.05),可见鱼体体表褪黑程度与mc1r表达量呈负相关。在成熟鱼体11个组织中mc1r均有不同程度的表达,其中,鳞片显著高于其他组织(P 0.05),说明橘色双冠丽鱼mc1r的主要表达部位是鳞片。本研究通过了解体色变异相关基因表达特征,为鱼类体色遗传和体色改良研究积累资料。     

One cost of being gold: selective predation and implications for the maintenance of the Midas cichlid colour polymorphism (Perciformes: Cichlidae)

In the colour‐polymorphic Midas cichlid fish species complex (Amphilophus citrinellus spp.), gold morphs occur at much lower frequencies (< 10%) than dark individuals. This might be surprising because gold coloration is dominant and coded for by a single Mendelian locus. Furthermore, gold individuals are considered to be competitively advantaged over dark ones because they grow faster and win aggressive encounters more often compared to dark individuals of equal size. However, one might expect a cost of being gold in terms of natural selection as a result of predation. We tested whether the Jaguar cichlid (Parachromis managuensis), a major fish predator of Midas cichlids, preys differentially on colour variants of goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus), which were used as a proxy for Midas cichlids because of their similarity in colour. Size‐matched pairs of prey fish (gold and dark) were offered to the predator and the time until the fish were attacked was recorded. The gold morph was attacked first more often (approximately 70%) but not faster than the dark morph. This suggests that the predator perceives the gold individual first, and/or that the predator exhibits a preference or higher motivation to attack the gold prey fish. The increased risk of predation of gold prey fish suggests for the Midas cichlid system that being gold may carry significant costs in terms of natural selection as a result of its major piscivorous predator. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 111 , 350–358.     

The Midas cichlid species complex: incipient sympatric speciation in Nicaraguan cichlid fishes?

Abstract Sympatric speciation is a contentious concept, although theoretical models as well as empirical evidence support its relevance in evolutionary biology. The Midas cichlid species complex (Amphilophus citrinellus, labiatus, zaliosus) from several crater lakes in Nicaragua fits several of the key characteristics of a sympatric speciation model. In particular, in A. citrinellus (i) strong assortative mating on the basis of colour polymorphism and (ii) ecological differentiation based on morphological polymorphisms involving the feeding apparatus and body shape might both be mechanisms of incipient speciation. Seven microsatellite markers and mtDNA control region sequences [836 base pairs (bp)] were used to study the population genetic structure of 519 specimens of Midas cichlid populations from the two Great Lakes Managua and Nicaragua, and three crater lakes in Nicaragua, Central America. The three named species of the species complex occupy different ecological niches, are morphologically distinct and can be distinguished genetically. We uncovered allopatric genetic differentiation of populations of A. citrinellus from different lakes and distant locations within Lake Managua and, more interestingly, incipient genetic differentiation of several sympatric populations based on colouration (in A. citrinellus and A. labiatus) but not on the morphology of the pharyngeal jaws (in A. citrinellus). Sexual selection and assortative mating might be the driven forces of diversification within named species. The Midas cichlid species complex in Nicaragua is an excellent model system for the study of the incipient stages of adaptation, speciation and the formation of species flocks.     

Differential predation on the two colour morphs of Nicaraguan Crater lake Midas cichlid fish: implications for the maintenance of its gold‐dark polymorphism

Predation can play an important role in the evolution and maintenance of prey colour polymorphisms. Several factors are known to affect predator choice, including the prey's relative abundance and conspicuousness. In polymorphic prey species, predators often target the most common or most visible morphs. To test if predator choice can explain why in Midas cichlid fish the more visible (gold) morph is also more rare than the inconspicuous dark morph, we conducted predation experiments using two differently coloured wax models in Nicaraguan crater lakes. Contrary to expectations, we observed an overall higher attack rate on the much more abundant, yet less conspicuous dark models, and propose frequency‐dependent predation as a potential explanation for this result. Interestingly, the attack rate differed between different types of predators. While avian predators were biased towards the abundant and less colourful dark morphs, fish predators did not show a strong bias. However, the relative attack rate of fish predators seemed to vary with the clarity of the water, as attack rates on gold models went up as water clarity decreased. The relative differential predation rates on different morphs might impact the relative abundance of both colour morphs and thus explain the maintenance of the colour polymorphism. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 112 , 123–131.