Visual opsin gene expression evolution in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika

Tuning the visual sensory system to the ambient light is essential for survival in many animal species. This is often achieved through duplication, functional diversification, and/or differential expression of visual opsin genes. Here, we examined 753 new retinal transcriptomes from 112 species of cichlid fishes from Lake Tanganyika to unravel adaptive changes in gene expression at the macro-evolutionary and ecosystem level of one of the largest vertebrate adaptive radiations. We found that, across the radiation, all seven cone opsins-but not the rhodopsin-rank among the most differentially expressed genes in the retina, together with other vision-, circadian rhythm-, and hemoglobin-related genes. We propose two visual palettes characteristic of very shallow- and deep-water living species, respectively, and show that visual system adaptations along two major ecological axes, macro-habitat and diet, occur primarily via gene expression variation in a subset of cone opsin genes.

Plasticity and genetic effects contribute to different axes of neural divergence in a community of mimetic Heliconius butterflies

Changes in ecological preference, often driven by spatial and temporal variation in resource distribution, can expose populations to environments with divergent information content. This can lead to adaptive changes in the degree to which individuals invest in sensory systems and downstream processes, to optimize behavioural performance in different contexts. At the same time, environmental conditions can produce plastic responses in nervous system development and maturation, providing an alternative route to integrating neural and ecological variation. Here, we explore how these two processes play out across a community of Heliconius butterflies. Heliconius communities exhibit multiple Mullerian mimicry rings, associated with habitat partitioning across environmental gradients. These environmental differences have previously been linked to heritable divergence in brain morphology in parapatric species pairs. They also exhibit a unique dietary adaptation, known as pollen feeding, that relies heavily on learning foraging routes, or trap-lines, between resources, which implies an important environmental influence on behavioural development. By comparing brain morphology across 133 wild-caught and insectary-reared individuals from seven Heliconius species, we find strong evidence for interspecific variation in patterns of neural investment. These largely fall into two distinct patterns of variation; first, we find consistent patterns of divergence in the size of visual brain components across both wild and insectary-reared individuals, suggesting genetically encoded divergence in the visual pathway. Second, we find interspecific differences in mushroom body size, a central component of learning and memory systems, but only among wild caught individuals. The lack of this effect in common-garden individuals suggests an extensive role for developmental plasticity in interspecific variation in the wild. Finally, we illustrate the impact of relatively small-scale spatial effects on mushroom body plasticity by performing experiments altering the cage size and structure experienced by individual H. hecale. Our data provide a comprehensive survey of community level variation in brain structure, and demonstrate that genetic effects and developmental plasticity contribute to different axes of interspecific neural variation.

The evolutionary history and spectral tuning of vertebrate visual opsins

Many animals depend on the sense of vision for survival. In eumetazoans, vision requires specialized, light-sensitive cells called photoreceptors. Light reaches the photoreceptors and triggers the excitation of light-detecting proteins called opsins. Here, we describe the story of visual opsin evolution from the ancestral bilaterian to the extant vertebrate lineages. We explain the mechanisms determining color vision of extant vertebrates, focusing on opsin gene losses, duplications, and the expression regulation of vertebrate opsins. We describe the sequence variation both within and between species that has tweaked the sensitivities of opsin proteins towards different wavelengths of light. We provide an extensive resource of wavelength sensitivities and mutations that have diverged light sensitivity in many vertebrate species and predict how these mutations were accumulated in each lineage based on parsimony. We suggest possible natural and sexual selection mechanisms underlying these spectral differences. Understanding how molecular changes allow for functional adaptation of animals to different environments is a major goal in the field, and therefore identifying mutations affecting vision and their relationship to photic selection pressures is imperative. The goal of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of opsin evolution in vertebrates.

Molecular evolution and depth-related adaptations of rhodopsin in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika

The visual sensory system is essential for animals to perceive their environment and is thus under strong selection. In aquatic environments, light intensity and spectrum differ primarily along a depth gradient. Rhodopsin (RH1) is the only opsin responsible for dim‐light vision in vertebrates and has been shown to evolve in response to the respective light conditions, including along a water depth gradient in fishes. In this study, we examined the diversity and sequence evolution of RH1 in virtually the entire adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika, focusing on adaptations to the environmental light with respect to depth. We show that Tanganyikan cichlid genomes contain a single copy of RH1. The 76 variable amino acid sites detected in RH1 across the radiation were not uniformly distributed along the protein sequence, and 31 of these variable sites show signals of positive selection. Moreover, the amino acid substitutions at 15 positively selected sites appeared to be depth‐related, including three key tuning sites that directly mediate shifts in the peak spectral sensitivity, one site involved in protein stability and 11 sites that may be functionally important on the basis of their physicochemical properties. Among the strongest candidate sites for deep‐water adaptations are two known key tuning sites (positions 292 and 299) and three newly identified variable sites (37, 104 and 290). Our study, which is the first comprehensive analysis of RH1 evolution in a massive adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes, provides novel insights into the evolution of RH1 in a freshwater environment.

Molecular evolution and convergence of the rhodopsin gene in Gymnogobius, a goby group having diverged into coastal to freshwater habitats

Adaptive evolution of vision-related genes has been frequently observed in the process of invasion of new environments in a wide range of animal taxa. The typical example is that of the molecular evolution of rhodopsin associated with habitat changes in aquatic animals. However, few studies have investigated rhodopsin evolution during adaptive radiation across various habitats. In the present study, we examined the link between molecular evolutionary patterns in the rhodopsin gene and macroscopic habitat changes in Gymnogobius species (Gobiidae), which have adaptively radiated to diverse aquatic habitats including the sea, brackish waters, rivers and lakes. Analysis of amino acid substitutions in rhodopsin in the phylogenetic framework revealed convergent substitutions in 4-5 amino acids in three groups (four species), including two spectral tuning amino acid sites known to change rhodopsin's absorption wavelength. Positive selection was detected in the basal branches of each of these three groups, suggesting adaptive molecular convergence of rhodopsin. However, no significant correlation was observed between amino acid substitutions and the species' habitat changes, suggesting molecular adaptation to some unidentified micro-ecological environments. Taken together, these results emphasize the importance of considering not only macroscopic habitats but also micro-ecological environments when elucidating the driving forces of adaptive evolution of the visual system.

Genomic basis of deep-water adaptation in Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) morphs

The post-glacial colonization of Gander Lake in Newfoundland, Canada, by Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) provides the opportunity to study the genomic basis of adaptation to extreme deep-water environments. Colonization of deep-water (>50 m) habitats often requires extensive adaptation to cope with novel environmental challenges from high hydrostatic pressure, low temperature, and low light, but the genomic mechanisms underlying evolution in these environments are rarely known. Here, we compare genomic divergence between a deep-water morph adapted to depths of up to 288 m and a larger, piscivorous pelagic morph occupying shallower depths. Using both a SNP array and resequencing of whole nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, we find clear genetic divergence (F_ST  = 0.11-0.15) between deep and shallow water morphs, despite an absence of morph divergence across the mitochondrial genome. Outlier analyses identified many diverged genomic regions containing genes enriched for processes such as gene expression and DNA repair, cardiac function, and membrane transport. Detection of putative copy number variants (CNVs) uncovered 385 genes with CNVs distinct to piscivorous morphs, and 275 genes with CNVs distinct to deep-water morphs, enriched for processes associated with synapse assembly. Demographic analyses identified evidence for recent and local morph divergence, and ongoing reductions in diversity consistent with postglacial colonization. Together, these results show that Arctic Charr morph divergence has occurred through genome-wide differentiation and elevated divergence of genes underlying multiple cellular and physiological processes, providing insight into the genomic basis of adaptation in a deep-water habitat following postglacial recolonization.

Visual adaptation of opsin genes to the aquatic environment in sea snakes

BACKGROUND

Evolutionary transitions from terrestrial to aquatic life history cause drastic changes in sensory systems. Indeed, the drastic changes in vision have been reported in many aquatic amniotes, convergently. Recently, the opsin genes of the full-aquatic sea snakes have been reported. However, those of the amphibious sea snakes have not been examined in detail.

RESULTS

Here, we investigated opsin genes and visual pigments of sea snakes. We determined the sequences of SWS1, LWS, and RH1 genes from one terrestrial, three amphibious and four fully-aquatic elapids. Amino acid replacements at four and one spectra-tuning positions were found in LWS and RH1, respectively. We measured or predicted absorption of LWS and RH1 pigments with A1-derived retinal. During their evolution, blue shifts of LWS pigments have occurred stepwise in amphibious sea snakes and convergently in both amphibious and fully-aquatic species.

CONCLUSIONS

Blue shifted LWS pigments may have adapted to deep water or open water environments dominated by blue light. The evolution of opsins differs between marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds) and sea snakes in two fundamental ways: (1) pseudogenization of opsins in marine mammals; and (2) large blue shifts of LWS pigments in sea snakes. It may be possible to explain these two differences at the level of photoreceptor cell composition given that cone and rod cells both exist in mammals whereas only cone cells exist in fully-aquatic sea snakes. We hypothesize that the differences in photoreceptor cell compositions may have differentially affected the evolution of opsins in divergent amniote lineages.

Movement of transposable elements contributes to cichlid diversity

African cichlid fishes are a prime model for studying speciation mechanisms. Despite the development of extensive genomic resources, it has been difficult to determine which sources of genetic variation are responsible for cichlid phenotypic variation. One of their most variable phenotypes is visual sensitivity, with some of the largest spectral shifts among vertebrates. These shifts arise primarily from differential expression of seven cone opsin genes. By mapping expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) in intergeneric crosses of Lake Malawi cichlids, we previously identified four causative genetic variants that correspond to indels in the promoters of either key transcription factors or an opsin gene. In this comprehensive study, we show that these indels are the result of the movement of transposable elements (TEs) that correlate with opsin expression variation across the Malawi flock. In tracking the evolutionary history of these particular indels, we found they are endemic to Lake Malawi, suggesting that these TEs are recently active and are segregating within the Malawi cichlid lineage. However, an independent indel has arisen at a similar genomic location in one locus outside of the Malawi flock. The convergence in TE movement suggests these loci are primed for TE insertion and subsequent deletions. Increased TE mobility may be associated with interspecific hybridization, which disrupts mechanisms of TE suppression. This might provide a link between cichlid hybridization and accelerated regulatory variation. Overall, our study suggests that TEs may be an important driver of key regulatory changes, facilitating rapid phenotypic change and possibly speciation in African cichlids.

Axes of visual adaptation in the ecologically diverse family Cichlidae

The family Cichlidae contains approximately 2000 species that live in diverse freshwater habitats including murky lakes, turbid rivers, and clear lakes from both the Old and New Worlds. Their visual systems are similarly diverse and have evolved specific sensitivities that differ along several axes of variation. Variation in cornea and lens transmission affect which wavelengths reach the retina. Variation in photoreceptor number and distribution affect brightness sensitivity, spectral sensitivity and resolution. Probably their most dynamic characteristic is the variation in visual pigment peak sensitivities. Visual pigments can be altered through changes in chromophore, opsin sequence and opsin expression. Opsin expression varies by altering which of the seven available cone opsins in their genomes are turned on. These opsins can even be coexpressed to produce seemingly infinitely tunable cone sensitivities. Both chromophore and opsin expression can vary on either rapid (hours or days), slower (seasonal or ontogenetic) or evolutionary timescales. Such visual system shifts have enabled cichlids to adapt to different habitats and foraging styles. Through both short term plasticity and longer evolutionary adaptations, cichlids have proven to be ecologically successful and an excellent model for studying organismal adaptation.

Plasticity of opsin gene expression in the adult red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) in response to turbid habitats

Vision is very important to fish as it is required for foraging food, fighting competitors, fleeing from predators, and finding potential mates. Vertebrates express opsin genes in photoreceptor cells to receive visual signals, and the variety of light levels in aquatic habits has driven fish to evolve multiple opsin genes with expression profiles that are highly plastic. In this study, red shiners (Cyprinella lutrensis) were exposed to four water turbidity treatments and their opsin genes were cloned to elucidate how opsin gene expression could be modulated by ambient light conditions. Opsin gene cloning revealed that these fish have single RH1, SWS1, SWS2 and LWS genes and two RH2 genes. Phylogenetic analysis also indicated that these two RH2 opsin genes-RH2A and RH2B -are in-paralogous. Using quantitative PCR, we found evidence that opsin expression is plastic in adults. Elevated proportional expression of LWS in the cone under ambient light and turbid treatment indicated that the red shiner's visual spectrum displays a red shift in response to increased turbidity.

Parallel evolution of gene expression between trophic specialists despite divergent genotypes and morphologies

Parallel evolution of gene expression commonly underlies convergent niche specialization, but parallel changes in expression could also underlie divergent specialization. We investigated divergence in gene expression and whole-genome genetic variation across three sympatric Cyprinodon pupfishes endemic to San Salvador Island, Bahamas. This recent radiation consists of a generalist and two derived specialists adapted to novel niches: a scale-eating and a snail-eating pupfish. We sampled total mRNA from all three species at two early developmental stages and compared gene expression with whole-genome genetic differentiation among all three species in 42 resequenced genomes. Eighty percent of genes that were differentially expressed between snail-eaters and generalists were up or down regulated in the same direction between scale-eaters and generalists; however, there were no fixed variants shared between species underlying these parallel changes in expression. Genes showing parallel evolution of expression were enriched for effects on metabolic processes, whereas genes showing divergent expression were enriched for effects on cranial skeleton development and pigment biosynthesis, reflecting the most divergent phenotypes observed between specialist species. Our findings reveal that even divergent niche specialists may exhibit convergent adaptation to higher trophic levels through shared genetic pathways. This counterintuitive result suggests that parallel evolution in gene expression can accompany divergent ecological speciation during adaptive radiation.

Visual adaptation in Lake Victoria cichlid fishes: depth-related variation of color and scotopic opsins in species from sand/mud bottoms

Background

For Lake Victoria cichlid species inhabiting rocky substrates with differing light regimes, it has been proposed that adaptation of the long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) opsin gene triggered speciation by sensory drive through color signal divergence. The extensive and continuous sand/mud substrates are also species-rich, and a correlation between male nuptial coloration and the absorption of LWS pigments has been reported. However, the factors driving genetic and functional diversity of LWS pigments in sand/mud habitats are still unresolved.

Results

To address this issue, nucleotide sequences of eight opsin genes were compared in ten Lake Victoria cichlid species collected from sand/mud bottoms. Among eight opsins, the LWS and rod-opsin (RH1) alleles were diversified and one particular allele was dominant or fixed in each species. Natural selection has acted on and fixed LWS alleles in each species. The functions of LWS and RH1 alleles were measured by absorption of reconstituted A1- and A2-derived visual pigments. The absorption of pigments from RH1 alleles most common in deep water were largely shifted toward red, whereas those of LWS alleles were largely shifted toward blue in both A1 and A2 pigments. In both RH1 and LWS pigments, A2-derived pigments were closer to the dominant light in deep water, suggesting the possibility of the adaptation of A2-derived pigments to depth-dependent light regimes.

Conclusions

The RH1 and LWS sequences may be diversified for adaptation of A2-derived pigments to different light environments in sand/mud substrates. Diversification of the LWS alleles may have originally taken place in riverine environments, with a new mutation occurring subsequently in Lake Victoria.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-1040-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Long-wavelength sensitive opsin (LWS) gene variability in Neotropical cichlids (Teleostei: Cichlidae)

Cichlid fishes are an important group in evolutionary biology due to their fast speciation. This group depends widely of vision for feeding and reproduction. During the evolutionary process it plays a significant role in interspecific and intraspecific recognition and in its ecology. The molecular basis of vision is formed by the interaction of the protein opsin and retinal chromophore. Long-wavelength sensitive opsin (LWS) gene is the most variable among the opsin genes and it has an ecological significance. Current assay identifies interspecific variation of Neotropical cichlids that would modify the spectral properties of the LWS opsin protein and codons selected. Neotropical species present more variable sites for LWS gene than those of the African lakes species. The LWS opsin gene in Crenicichla britskii has a higher amino acid similarity when compared to that in the African species, but the variable regions do not overlap. Neotropical cichlids accumulate larger amounts of variable sites for LWS opsin gene, probably because they are spread over a wider area and submitted to a wider range of selective pressures by inhabiting mainly lotic environments. Furthermore, the codons under selection are different when compared to those of the African cichlids.

Depth and substratum differentiations among coexisting herbivorous cichlids in Lake Tanganyika

Cichlid fish in Lake Tanganyika represent a system of adaptive radiation in which eight ancestral lineages have diversified into hundreds of species through adaptation to various niches. However, Tanganyikan cichlids have been thought to be oversaturated, that is, the species number exceeds the number of niches and ecologically equivalent and competitively even species coexist. However, recent studies have shed light on niche segregation on a finer scale among apparently equivalent species. We observed depth and substratum preferences of 15 herbivorous cichlids from four ecomorphs (i.e. grazer, browser, scraper and scooper) on a rocky littoral slope for 14 years. Depth differentiation was detected among grazers that defended feeding territories and among browsers with feeding territories. Cichlid species having no feeding territory also showed specificity on depth and substratum, resulting in habitat segregation among species that belong to the same ecomorph. Phylogenetically close species did not occupy adjacent depths, nor the opposite depth zones. Our findings suggest that apparently equivalent species of the same ecomorph coexist parapatrically along depth on a few-metre scale, or coexist with different substratum preferences on the rocky shore, and this niche segregation may have been acquired by competition between encountering equivalent species through repetitive lake-level fluctuations.

Proximate and ultimate causes of variable visual sensitivities: Insights from cichlid fish radiations

Animals vary in their sensitivities to different wavelengths of light. Sensitivity differences can have fitness implications in terms of animals' ability to forage, find mates, and avoid predators. As a result, visual systems are likely selected to operate in particular lighting environments and for specific visual tasks. This review focuses on cichlid vision, as cichlids have diverse visual sensitivities, and considerable progress has been made in determining the genetic basis for this variation. We describe both the proximate and ultimate mechanisms shaping cichlid visual diversity using the structure of Tinbergen's four questions. We describe (1) the molecular mechanisms that tune visual sensitivities including changes in opsin sequence and expression; (2) the evolutionary history of visual sensitivity across the African cichlid flocks; (3) the ontological changes in visual sensitivity and how modifying this developmental program alters sensitivities among species; and (4) the fitness benefits of spectral tuning mechanisms with respect to survival and mating success. We further discuss progress to unravel the gene regulatory networks controlling opsin expression and suggest that a simple genetic architecture contributes to the lability of opsin gene expression. Finally, we identify unanswered questions including whether visual sensitivities are experiencing selection, and whether similar spectral tuning mechanisms shape visual sensitivities of other fishes. genesis 54:299-325, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Divergent positive selection in rhodopsin from lake and riverine cichlid fishes

Studies of cichlid evolution have highlighted the importance of visual pigment genes in the spectacular radiation of the African rift lake cichlids. Recent work, however, has also provided strong evidence for adaptive diversification of riverine cichlids in the Neotropics, which inhabit environments of markedly different spectral properties from the African rift lakes. These ecological and/or biogeographic differences may have imposed divergent selective pressures on the evolution of the cichlid visual system. To test these hypotheses, we investigated the molecular evolution of the dim-light visual pigment, rhodopsin. We sequenced rhodopsin from Neotropical and African riverine cichlids and combined these data with published sequences from African cichlids. We found significant evidence for positive selection using random sites codon models in all cichlid groups, with the highest levels in African lake cichlids. Tests using branch-site and clade models that partitioned the data along ecological (lake, river) and/or biogeographic (African, Neotropical) boundaries found significant evidence of divergent selective pressures among cichlid groups. However, statistical comparisons among these models suggest that ecological, rather than biogeographic, factors may be responsible for divergent selective pressures that have shaped the evolution of the visual system in cichlids. We found that branch-site models did not perform as well as clade models for our data set, in which there was evidence for positive selection in the background. One of our most intriguing results is that the amino acid sites found to be under positive selection in Neotropical and African lake cichlids were largely nonoverlapping, despite falling into the same three functional categories: spectral tuning, retinal uptake/release, and rhodopsin dimerization. Taken together, these results would imply divergent selection across cichlid clades, but targeting similar functions. This study highlights the importance of molecular investigations of ecologically important groups and the flexibility of clade models in explicitly testing ecological hypotheses.

Molecular evolutionary analysis of vertebrate transducins: a role for amino acid variation in photoreceptor deactivation

Transducin is a heterotrimeric G protein that plays a critical role in phototransduction in the rod and cone photoreceptor cells of the vertebrate retina. Rods, highly sensitive cells that recover from photoactivation slowly, underlie dim-light vision, whereas cones are less sensitive, recover more quickly, and underlie bright-light vision. Transducin deactivation is a critical step in photoreceptor recovery and may underlie the functional distinction between rods and cones. Rods and cones possess distinct transducin α subunits, yet they share a common deactivation mechanism, the GTPase activating protein (GAP) complex. Here, we used codon models to examine patterns of sequence evolution in rod (GNAT1) and cone (GNAT2) α subunits. Our results indicate that purifying selection is the dominant force shaping GNAT1 and GNAT2 evolution, but that GNAT2 has additionally been subject to positive selection operating at multiple phylogenetic scales; phylogeny-wide analysis identified several sites in the GNAT2 helical domain as having substantially elevated dN/dS estimates, and branch-site analysis identified several nearby sites as targets of strong positive selection during early vertebrate history. Examination of aligned GNAT and GAP complex crystal structures revealed steric clashes between several positively selected sites and the deactivating GAP complex. This suggests that GNAT2 sequence variation could play an important role in adaptive evolution of the vertebrate visual system via effects on photoreceptor deactivation kinetics and provides an alternative perspective to previous work that focused instead on the effect of GAP complex concentration. Our findings thus further the understanding of the molecular biology, physiology, and evolution of vertebrate visual systems.

The Loci of repeated evolution: a catalog of genetic hotspots of phenotypic variation

What is the nature of the genetic changes underlying phenotypic evolution? We have catalogued 1008 alleles described in the literature that cause phenotypic differences among animals, plants, and yeasts. Surprisingly, evolution of similar traits in distinct lineages often involves mutations in the same gene ("gene reuse"). This compilation yields three important qualitative implications about repeated evolution. First, the apparent evolution of similar traits by gene reuse can be traced back to two alternatives, either several independent causative mutations or a single original mutational event followed by sorting processes. Second, hotspots of evolution-defined as the repeated occurrence of de novo mutations at orthologous loci and causing similar phenotypic variation-are omnipresent in the literature with more than 100 examples covering various levels of analysis, including numerous gain-of-function events. Finally, several alleles of large effect have been shown to result from the aggregation of multiple small-effect mutations at the same hotspot locus, thus reconciling micromutationist theories of adaptation with the empirical observation of large-effect variants. Although data heterogeneity and experimental biases prevented us from extracting quantitative trends, our synthesis highlights the existence of genetic paths of least resistance leading to viable evolutionary change.

Group size adjustment to ecological demand in a cooperative breeder

Environmental factors can determine which group size will maximize the fitness of group members. This is particularly important in cooperative breeders, where group members often serve different purposes. Experimental studies are yet lacking to check whether ecologically mediated need for help will change the propensity of dominant group members to accept immigrants. Here, we manipulated the perceived risk of predation for dominant breeders of the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher to test their response to unrelated and previously unknown immigrants. Potential immigrants were more readily accepted if groups were exposed to fish predators or egg predators than to herbivorous fish or control situations lacking predation risk. Our data are consistent with both risk dilution and helping effects. Egg predators were presented before spawning, which might suggest that the fish adjust acceptance rates also to a potential future threat. Dominant group members of N. pulcher apparently consider both present and future need of help based on ecological demand. This suggests that acceptance of immigrants and, more generally, tolerance of group members on demand could be a widespread response to ecological conditions in cooperatively breeding animals.

Correlation between nuptial colors and visual sensitivities tuned by opsins leads to species richness in sympatric Lake Victoria cichlid fishes

Reproductive isolation that prevents interspecific hybridization between closely related coexisting species maintains sympatric species diversity. One of the reproductive isolations is mate choice based on color signals (breeding color perceived by color vision). This is well known in several animal taxa, yet little is known about its genetic and molecular mechanism. Lake Victoria cichlid fishes are thought to be an example of sympatric species diversity. In the species inhabiting different light environments in rocky shore, speciation by sensory drive through color signals has been proposed by analyses of the long wavelength-sensitive (LWS) opsin gene and the male nuptial coloration. However, the genetic and molecular mechanism of how diversity of sympatric species occurring in the same habitat is maintained remains unknown. To address this issue, we determined nucleotide sequences of eight opsins of six sympatric species collected from a sandy-muddy shore--an ideal model system for studying sympatric species. Among eight opsins, the LWS and RH1 alleles were diversified and one particular allele is dominant or fixed in each species, and we propose that this is due to natural selection. The functions of their LWS alleles were also diversified as shown by absorption measurements of reconstituted visual pigments. To analyze the relationship between nuptial coloration and the absorption of LWS pigments, we systematically evaluated and defined nuptial coloration. We showed that the coloration was species specific with respect to hue and significantly differentiated by the index values of hue (dominant wavelength: λ(d)). The λ(d) value of the male nuptial coloration correlated with the absorption of LWS pigments from all the species, suggesting that reproductive isolation through mate choice using color signals may prevent sympatric interspecific hybridization, thereby maintaining the species diversity in sympatric species in Lake Victoria.