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By linking anatomical structure to mechanical performance we can improve our understanding of how selection shapes morphology. Here we examined the functional morphology of feeding in fishes of the subfamily Danioninae (order Cypriniformes) to determine aspects of cranial evolution connected with their trophic diversification. The Danioninae comprise three major lineages and each employs a different feeding strategy. We gathered data on skull form and function from species in each clade, then assessed their evolutionary dynamics using phylogenetic-comparative methods. Differences between clades are strongly associated with differences in jaw protrusion. The paedomorphic Danionella clade does not use jaw protrusion at all, members of the Danio clade use jaw protrusion for suction production and prey capture, and members of the sister clade to Danio (e.g., Devario and Microdevario) use jaw protrusion to retain prey after capture. The shape of the premaxillary bone is a major determinant of protrusion ability, and premaxilla morphology in each of these lineages is consistent with their protrusion strategies. Premaxilla shapes have evolved rapidly, which indicates that they have been subjected to strong selection. We compared premaxilla development in giant danio (Devario aequipinnatus) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) and discuss a developmental mechanism that could shift danionine fishes between the feeding strategies employed by these species and their respective clades. We also identified a highly integrated evolutionary module that has been an important factor in the evolution of trophic mechanics within the Danioninae.

 

Anthropogenic climate change is projected to affect marine ecosystems by challenging the environmental tolerance of individuals. Marine fishes may be particularly vulnerable to emergent climate stressors during early life stages. Here we focus on embryos of Pacific herring(Clupea pallasii), an important forage fish species widely distributed across the North Pacific. Embryos were reared under a range of temperatures (10-16°C) crossed with twopCO₂levels (600 and 2000μatm) to investigate effects on metabolism and survival. We further tested how elevatedpCO₂affects critical thermal tolerance (CT_max) by challenging embryos to short-term temperature fluctuations. Experiments were repeated on embryos collected from winter and spring spawning populations to determine if spawning phenology corresponds with different limits of environmental tolerance in offspring. We found that embryos could withstand acute exposure to 20°C regardless of spawning population or incubation treatment, but that survival was greatly reduced after 2-3 hours at 25°C. We found thatpCO₂had limited effects onCT_max. The survival of embryos reared under chronically warm conditions (12°, 14°, or 16°C) was significantly lower relative to 10°C treatments in both populations. Oxygen consumption rates (MO₂) were also higher at elevated temperatures andpCO₂levels. However, heart contraction measurements made 48 hours afterCT_maxexposure revealed a greater increase in heart rate in embryos reared at 10°C compared to 16°C, suggesting acclimation at higher incubation temperatures. Our results indicate that Pacific herring are generally tolerant ofpCO₂but are vulnerable to acute temperature stress. Importantly, spring-spawning embryos did not clearly exhibit a higher tolerance to heat stress compared to winter offspring.

 

The damselfishes (family Pomacentridae) inhabit near-shore communities in tropical and temperature oceans as one of the major lineages in coral reef fish assemblages. Our understanding of their evolutionary ecology, morphology and function has often been advanced by increasingly detailed and accurate molecular phylogenies. Here we present the next stage of multi-locus, molecular phylogenetics for the group based on analysis of 12 nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences from 345 of the 422 damselfishes. The resulting well-resolved phylogeny helps to address several important questions about higher-level damselfish relationships, their evolutionary history and patterns of divergence. A time-calibrated phylogenetic tree yields a root age for the family of 55.5 mya, refines the age of origin for a number of diverse genera, and shows that ecological changes during the Eocene-Oligocene transition provided opportunities for damselfish diversification. We explored the idea that body size extremes have evolved repeatedly among the Pomacentridae, and demonstrate that large and small body sizes have evolved independently at least 40 times and with asymmetric rates of transition among size classes. We tested the hypothesis that transitions among dietary ecotypes (benthic herbivory, pelagic planktivory and intermediate omnivory) are asymmetric, with higher transition rates from intermediate omnivory to either planktivory or herbivory. Using multistate hidden-state speciation and extinction models, we found that both body size and dietary ecotype are significantly associated with patterns of diversification across the damselfishes, and that the highest rates of net diversification are associated with medium body size and pelagic planktivory. We also conclude that the pattern of evolutionary diversification in feeding ecology, with frequent and asymmetrical transitions between feeding ecotypes, is largely restricted to the subfamily Pomacentrinae in the Indo-West Pacific. Trait diversification patterns for damselfishes across a fully resolved phylogeny challenge many recent general conclusions about the evolution of reef fishes.