A falsification of the thermal specialization paradigm: compensation for elevated temperatures in Antarctic fishes

Specialization to a particular environment is one of the main factors used to explain species distributions. Antarctic fishes are often cited as a classic example to illustrate the specialization process and are regarded as the archetypal stenotherms. Here we show that the Antarctic fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki has retained the capacity to compensate for chronic temperature change. By displaying astounding plasticity in cardiovascular response and metabolic control, the fishes maintained locomotory performance at elevated temperatures. Our falsification of the specialization paradigm indicates that the effect of climate change on species distribution and extinction may be overestimated by current models of global warming.

Trichodinids (Ciliophora : Trichodinidae) from native and exotic Australian freshwater fishes

There are very few data on trichodinids of freshwater fishes in Australia. 2003 fishes were surveyed across Eastern Australia to investigate the diversity of trichodinids present, to determine which species have been introduced with exotic fishes and to determine the extent to which these species have crossed into native fish Populations. Twenty-one putative trichodinid species were recovered from the 33 fish species examined. Trichodina heterodentata, T. mutabilis and T. reticulata were the exotic species recovered regularly; a single specimen matched a fourth exotic species, T acuta. All four exotic species are redescribed from Australian material. Trichodina heterodentata was recorded from 17 species of fishes, 15 of which were new host records; this species is identified as one of emerging importance in fish parasitology and a list of its known hosts is presented. Two new native species are also described based on silver stained specimens: T cribbi sp. n. from Hypseleotris galii, H. klunzingeri, and Hypseleotris sp. 5; and T. bassonae sp. n. from Selenotoca multifasciata. Trichodina cribbi is characterised by a large circular central inclusion and approximately 28 denticles, which have a blade length slightly greater than the ray length. Trichodina bassonae is characterised by a small, round, central inclusion and approximately 25 denticles, which have straight, non tapering rays that are in line with the leading edge of the denticle blade. It is estimated that the Australian trichodinid fauna may include up to 150 as yet undescribed species and represents a major source of unexplored biodiversity.

Brain morphology in large pelagic fishes: A comparison between sharks and teleosts

A quantitative comparison was made of both relative brain size (encephalization) and the relative development of five brain area of pelagic sharks and teleosts. Two integration areas (the telencephalon and the corpus cerebellum) and three sensory brain areas (the olfactory bulbs, optic tectum and octavolateralis area, which receive primary projections from the olfactory epithelium, eye and octavolateralis senses, respectively), in four species of pelagic shark and six species of pelagic teleost were investigated. The relative proportions of the three sensory brain areas were assessed as a proportion of the total 'sensory brain', while the two integration areas were assessed relative to the sensory brain. The allometric analysis of relative brain size revealed that pelagic sharks had larger brains than pelagic teleosts. The volume of the telencephalon was significantly larger in the sharks, while the corpus cerebellum was also larger and more heavily foliated in these animals. There were also significant differences in the relative development of the sensory brain areas between the two groups, with the sharks having larger olfactory bulbs and octavolateralis areas, whilst the teleosts had larger optic tecta. Cluster analysis performed on the sensory brain areas data confirmed the differences in the composition of the sensory brain in sharks and teleosts and indicated that these two groups of pelagic fishes had evolved different sensory strategies to cope with the demands of life in the open ocean.

Cardicola Short, 1953 and Braya n. gen. (Digenea : Sanguinicolidae) from five families of tropical Indo-Pacific fishes

A survey of Pacific coral reef fishes for sanguinicolids revealed that two species of Lutjanidae (Lutjanus argentimaculatus, L. bohar), six species of Siganidae (Siganus corallinus, S. fuscescens, S. lineatus, S. margaritiferus, S. punctatus, S. vulpinus), seven species of Chaetodontidae (Chaetodon aureofasciatus, C. citrinellus, C. flavirostris, C. lineolatus, C. reticulatus, C. ulietensis, C. unimaculatus), three species of Scombridae (Euthynnus affinis, Scomberomorus commerson, S. munroi) and three species of Scaridae (Chlorurus microrhinos, Scarus frenatus, S. ghobban) were infected with morphologically similar sanguinicolids. These flukes have a flat elliptical body, a vestigial oral sucker, a single testis, separate genital pores and a post-ovarian uterus. However, these species clearly belong in two genera based on the position of the testis and genital pores. Sanguinicolids from Lutjanidae, Siganidae, Chaetodontidae and Scombridae belong in Cardicola Short, 1953; the testis originates anteriorly to, or at the anterior end of, the intercaecal field and does not extend posteriorly to it, the male genital pore opens laterally to the sinistral lateral nerve chord and the female pore opens near the level of the ootype ( may be anterior, lateral or posterior to it) antero-dextral to the male pore. Those from Scaridae are placed in a new genus, Braya; the testis originates near the posterior end of the intercaecal field and extends posteriorly to it, the male pore opens medially at the posterior end of the body and the female pore opens posterior to the ootype, antero-sinistral to the male pore. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA from these sanguinicolids and a known species, Cardicola forsteri Cribb, Daintith & Munday, 2000, were sequenced, aligned and analysed to test the distinctness of the putative new species. Results from morphological comparisons and molecular analyses suggest the presence of 18 putative species; 11 are described on the basis of combined morphological and molecular data and seven are not because they are characterised solely by molecular sequences or to few morphological specimens (n= one). There was usually a correlation between levels of morphological and genetic distinction in that pairs of species with the greatest genetic separation were also the least morphologically similar. The exception in this regard was the combination of Cardicola tantabiddii n. sp. from S. fuscescens from Ningaloo Reef ( Western Australia) and Cardicola sp. 2 from the same host from Heron Island ( Great Barrier Reef). These two parasite/ host/location combinations had identical ITS2 sequences but appeared to differ morphologically ( however, this could simply be due to a lack of morphological material for Cardicola sp. 2). Only one putative species ( Cardicola sp. 1) was found in more than one location; most host species harboured distinct species in each geographical location surveyed ( for example, S. corallinus from Heron and Lizard Islands) and some ( for example, S. punctatus, S. fuscescens and Chlorurus microrhinos) harboured two species at a single location. Distance analysis of ITS2 showed that nine species from siganids, three from scombrids and five from scarids formed monophyletic clades to the exclusion of sanguinicolids from the other host families. Cardicola milleri n. sp. and C. chaetodontis Yamaguti, 1970 from lutjanids and chaetodontids, respectively, were the only representatives from those families that were sequenced. Within the clade formed by sanguinicolids from Siganidae there wasa further division of species; species from the morphologically similar S. fuscescens and S. margaritiferus formed a monophyletic group to the exclusion of sanguinicolids from all other siganid species.

The stability of P in coral reef fishes

The constancy of phenotypic variation and covariation is an assumption that underlies most recent investigations of past selective regimes and attempts to predict future responses to selection. Few studies have tested this assumption of constancy despite good reasons to expect that the pattern of phenotypic variation and covariation may vary in space and time. We compared phenotypic variance-covariance matrices (P) estimated for Populations of six species of distantly related coral reef fishes sampled at two locations on Australia's Great Barrier Reef separated by more than 1000 km. The intraspecific similarity between these matrices was estimated using two methods: matrix correlation and common principal component analysis. Although there was no evidence of equality between pairs of P, both statistical approaches indicated a high degree of similarity in morphology between the two populations for each species. In general, the hierarchical decomposition of the variance-covariance structure of these populations indicated that all principal components of phenotypic variance-covariance were shared but that they differed in the degree of variation associated with each of these components. The consistency of this pattern is remarkable given the diversity of morphologies and life histories encompassed by these species. Although some phenotypic instability was indicated, these results were consistent with a generally conserved pattern of multivariate selection between populations.

Communication in Fishes

Fishes, the most abundant and diverse group among all vertebrates, exploit the largest number of communication channels. These two volumes explore how fishes use hearing and vision, as well as the vibrational, electric and chemical modalities in their interactions with one another.

Life history trade-offs and community dynamics of small fishes in a seasonally pulsed wetland

We used a one-dimensional, spatially explicit model to simulate the community of small fishes in the freshwater wetlands of southern Florida, USA. The seasonality of rainfall in these wetlands causes annual fluctuations in the amount of flooded area. We modeled fish populations that differed from each other only in efficiency of resource utilization and dispersal ability. The simulations showed that these trade-offs, along with the spatial and temporal variability of the environment, allow coexistence of several species competing exploitatively for a common resource type. This mechanism, while sharing some characteristics with other mechanisms proposed for coexistence of competing species, is novel in detail. Simulated fish densities resembled patterns observed in Everglades empirical data. Cells with hydroperiods less than 6 months accumulated negligible fish biomass. One unique model result was that, when multiple species coexisted, it was possible for one of the coexisting species to have both lower local resource utilization efficiency and lower dispersal ability than one of the other species. This counterintuitive result is a consequence of stronger effects of other competitors on the superior species.

Disturbance regime and limits on benefits of refuge use for fishes in a fluctuating hydroscape

Refuge habitats increase survival rate and recovery time of populations experiencing environmental disturbance, but limits on the ability of refuges to buffer communities are poorly understood. We hypothesized that importance of refuges in preventing population declines and alteration in community structure has a non-linear relationship with severity of disturbance. In the Florida Everglades, alligator ponds are used as refuge habitat by fishes during seasonal drying of marsh habitats. Using an 11-year record of hydrological conditions and fish abundance in 10 marshes and 34 alligator ponds from two regions of the Everglades, we sought to characterize patterns of refuge use and temporal dynamics of fish abundance and community structure across changing intensity, duration, and frequency of drought disturbance. Abundance in alligator ponds was positively related to refuge size, distance from alternative refugia (e.g. canals), and abundance in surrounding marsh prior to hydrologic disturbance. Variables negatively related to abundance in alligator ponds included water level in surrounding marsh and abundance of disturbance-tolerant species. Refuge community structure did not differ between regions because the same subset of species in both regions used alligator ponds during droughts. When time between disturbances was short, fish abundance declined in marshes, and in the region with the most spatially extensive pattern of disturbance, community structure was altered in both marshes and alligator ponds because of an increased proportion of species more resistant to disturbance. These changes in community structure were associated with increases in both duration and frequency of hydrologic disturbance. Use of refuge habitat had a modal relationship with severity of disturbance regime. Spatial patterns of response suggest that decline in refuge use was because of decreased effectiveness of refuge habitat in reducing mortality and providing sufficient time for recovery for fish communities experiencing reduced time between disturbance events.

A Tale of Two Fishes: Using Recreational Angler Records to Examine the Link Between Fish Catches and Floodplain Connections in a Subtropical Coastal River

In the tropical and subtropical wet and dry regions, maintaining natural hydrologic connections between coastal rivers and adjacent ephemeral wetlands is critical to conserving and sustaining high levels of fisheries production within these systems. Though there is a consensus that there is a need to maintain these natural connections, little is known about what attributes of floodplain inundation regimes are most important in sustaining fisheries production. Two attributes of the flood season and thus floodplain inundation that may be particularly influential to fisheries are the amplitude of the flood season (floodplain water depth and spatial extent of inundation) and the duration of the flood season (i.e., time floodplains are inundated). In mangrove-dominated Everglades coastal rivers, seasonal inundation of upstream marsh floodplains may play an important role in provisioning recreational fisheries; however, this relationship remains unknown. Using two Everglades coastal river fisheries as a model, we tested whether the amplitude of the flood season or the duration of the flood season is more important in explaining variation in angler catch records of common snook and largemouth bass collected from 1992 to 2012. We validated angler catches with fisheries-independent electrofishing conducted in the same region from 2004 to 2012. Our results showed (1) that bass angler catches tracked electrofishing catches, while snook catches were completely mismatched. And (2) that previous year's marsh dynamics, particularly the duration of the flood season, was more influential than the flood season amplitude in explaining variation in bass catches, such that bass angler catches were negatively correlated to the period time that floodplains remained disconnected from coastal rivers in the previous year, while snook catches were not very well explained by floodplain inundation terms.

Fish Community Responses to the Combined Effects of Decreased Hydroperiod and Nonnative Fish Invasions in a Karst Wetland: Are Everglades Solution Holes Sinks for Native Fishes?

Short-hydroperiod Everglades wetlands have been disproportionately affected by reductions in freshwater inflows, land conversion and biotic invasions. Severe hydroperiod reductions in these habitats, including the Rocky Glades, coupled with proximity to canals that act as sources of invasions, may limit their ability to support high levels of aquatic production. We examined whether karst solution holes function as dry-down refuges for fishes, providing a source of marsh colonists upon reflooding, by tracking fish abundance, nonnative composition, and survival in solution holes throughout the dry season. We paired field surveys with an in situ nonnative predation experiment that tested the effects of predation by the recent invader, African jewelfish (Hemichromis letourneuxi) on native fishes. Over the 3 years surveyed, a large number of the solution holes dried before the onset of the wet season, while those retaining water had low survivorship and were dominated by nonnatives. In the experiment, mortality of eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) in the presence of African jewelfish was greater than that associated with deteriorating water quality. Under current water management, findings suggest that solution holes are largely sinks for native fishes, given the high frequency of drydown, extensive period of fish residence, and predation by nonnative fishes.