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Choi N, Mathevon N, Hebets EA, Beauchaud M. Influence of ambient water coloration on habitat and conspecific choice in the female Lake Malawi cichlid, Metriaclima zebra. Curr Zool 2024; 70:214-224. [PMID: 38726246 PMCID: PMC11078059 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoad015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Female cichlid fish living in African great lakes are known to have sensory systems that are adapted to ambient light environments. These sensory system adaptations are hypothesized to have influenced the evolution of the diverse male nuptial coloration. In rock-dwelling Lake Malawi mbuna cichlids, however, the extent to which ambient light environments influence female sensory systems and potentially associated male nuptial coloration remains unknown. Yet, the ubiquitous blue flank coloration and UV reflection of male mbuna cichlids suggest the potential impacts of the blue-shifted ambient light environment on these cichlid's visual perception and male nuptial coloration in the shallow water depth in Lake Malawi. In the present study, we explored whether and how the sensory bias of females influences intersexual communication in the mbuna cichlid, Metriaclima zebra. A series of choice experiments in various light environments showed that M. zebra females 1) have a preference for the blue-shifted light environment, 2) prefer to interact with males in blue-shifted light environments, 3) do not show a preference between dominant and subordinate males in full-spectrum, long-wavelength filtered, and short-wavelength filtered light environments, and 4) show a "reversed" preference for subordinate males in the UV-filtered light environment. These results suggest that the visual perception of M. zebra females may be biased to the ambient light spectra in their natural habitat by local adaptation and that this sensory bias may influence the evolution of blue and UV reflective patterns in male nuptial coloration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noori Choi
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, CRNL, CNRS, Inserm, Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
- Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Nicolas Mathevon
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, CRNL, CNRS, Inserm, Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Eileen A Hebets
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Marilyn Beauchaud
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, CRNL, CNRS, Inserm, Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
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Hauser FE, Ilves KL, Schott RK, Alvi E, López-Fernández H, Chang BSW. Evolution, inactivation and loss of short wavelength-sensitive opsin genes during the diversification of Neotropical cichlids. Mol Ecol 2021; 30:1688-1703. [PMID: 33569886 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Revised: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Natural variation in the number, expression and function of sensory genes in an organism's genome is often tightly linked to different ecological and evolutionary forces. Opsin genes, which code for the first step in visual transduction, are ideal models for testing how ecological factors such as light environment may influence visual system adaptation. Neotropical cichlid fishes are a highly ecologically diverse group that evolved in a variety of aquatic habitats, including black (stained), white (opaque) and clear waters. We used cross-species exon capture to sequence Neotropical cichlid short wavelength-sensitive (SWS) opsins, which mediate ultraviolet (UV) to blue visual sensitivity. Neotropical cichlid SWS1 opsin (UV-sensitive) underwent a relaxation of selective constraint during the early phases of cichlid diversification in South America, leading to pseudogenization and loss. Conversely, SWS2a (blue-sensitive) experienced a burst of episodic positive selection at the base of the South American cichlid radiation. This burst coincides with SWS1 relaxation and loss, and is consistent with findings in ecomorphological studies characterizing a period of extensive ecological divergence in Neotropical cichlids. We use ancestral sequence reconstruction and protein modelling to investigate mutations along this ancestral branch that probably modified SWS2a function. Together, our results suggest that variable light environments played a prominent early role in shaping SWS opsin diversity during the Neotropical cichlid radiation. Our results also illustrate that long-term evolution under light-limited conditions in South America may have reduced visual system plasticity; specifically, early losses of UV sensitivity may have constrained the evolutionary trajectory of Neotropical cichlid vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frances E Hauser
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Katriina L Ilves
- Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Ryan K Schott
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Erin Alvi
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Hernán López-Fernández
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Belinda S W Chang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Centre for the Analysis of Genome Evolution and Function, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Anthes N, Theobald J, Gerlach T, Meadows MG, Michiels NK. Diversity and Ecological Correlates of Red Fluorescence in Marine Fishes. Front Ecol Evol 2016. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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