The cryptic Indo-Pacific goby Trypauchenopsis intermedia Volz 1903 caught from the muddy estuary of Jalaur River in Iloilo, Panay Island is reported for the first time as a new country record for the ...Philippines. A brief description and a photograph of the only specimen are also presented.
There are substantial concerns that increasing levels of anthropogenic noise in the oceans may impact aquatic animals. Noise can affect animals physically, physiologically and behaviourally, but one ...of the most obvious effects is interference with acoustic communication. Acoustic communication often plays a crucial role in reproductive interactions and over 800 species of fish have been found to communicate acoustically. There is very little data on whether noise affects reproduction in aquatic animals, and none in relation to acoustic communication. In this study we tested the effect of continuous noise on courtship behaviour in two closely-related marine fishes: the two-spotted goby (Gobiusculus flavescens) and the painted goby (Pomatoschistus pictus) in aquarium experiments. Both species use visual and acoustic signals during courtship. In the two-spotted goby we used a repeated-measures design testing the same individuals in the noise and the control treatment, in alternating order. For the painted goby we allowed females to spawn, precluding a repeated-measures design, but permitting a test of the effect of noise on female spawning decisions. Males of both species reduced acoustic courtship, but only painted gobies also showed less visual courtship in the noise treatment compared to the control. Female painted gobies were less likely to spawn in the noise treatment. Thus, our results provide experimental evidence for negative effects of noise on acoustic communication and spawning success. Spawning is a crucial component of reproduction. Therefore, even though laboratory results should not be extrapolated directly to field populations, our results suggest that reproductive success may be sensitive to noise pollution, potentially reducing fitness.
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•Males of two species of marine fish were exposed to continuous additional noise.•Exposed males of both species performed less acoustic courtship.•Exposed males of one of the species also reduced visual courtship.•Exposed males were less likely to spawn successfully.
This paper provides experimental evidence that noise can affect reproductive communication and spawning success in fish, potentially reducing fitness.
Schindleria is likely the most numerous coral reef associated fish in the world. Yet, we are far from understanding their key to success. Schindleria are tiny (<23 mm) progenetic Gobiidae with a very ...short generation time. Due to extreme progenesis, its ancestors were morphologically very simple, which resulted in highly similar body constructs across the taxon. Hence, very few distinctive morphologies have been identified, and species descriptions comprise few specimens; for which detailed interspecific differences in body shape and sexual dimorphisms (intraspecific) are still poorly documented. To discriminate between species, especially in sympatry, the most evident feature is the length of the dorsal fin, which has been widely used for the classification into two types: the long dorsal finned (LDF) and short dorsal finned (SDF). In Hawaii, these types are named Schindleria praematura and Schindleria pietschmanni, respectively. We investigated morphometrics of sympatric populations of these two Schindleria from an atoll of the Hawaiian Islands (23° 46′ N, 166° 11′ W) as a first step to assess putative dimorphisms between sexes and between species’ types. Between types, we found significant differences in body size and among features related to propulsion, swimming, and foraging (e.g., the length of the tail or the width of the head), as well as notably different urogenital papillae, which suggests that the two species differ in habitat and in reproductive strategies. Comparing the same sex between the two types, we found that males differed in more morphological traits between the species than females (i.e., 76.2% vs. 52.4%). Within the species, sexual dimorphisms were high in both species (i.e., 71.4% off all traits in S. pietschmanni and 66.7% in S. praematura) and were also linked to swimming (e.g., the length of the dorsal and anal fins and of the tail) and to feeding (e.g., the head length and the snout length), suggesting further intraspecific microhabitat segregation between sexes. We present a rare example of interspecific and sexual morphometric divergence in two sympatric progenetic fishes.
Sahami FM, Kepel RC, Olii AH, Pratasik SB, Lasabuda R, Wantasen A, Habibie SA. 2020. Morphometric and genetic variations of species composers of nike fish assemblages in Gorontalo Bay Waters, ...Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 4571-4581. Nike is Gobioidei fish at the post-larval and juvenile stages whose habitat is still in seawater before they migrate to the freshwater, grow up, and spawn to fulfill their life cycle as an amphidromous species. This study aims to identify the species composers of Nike fish in Gorontalo Bay waters based on their morphometric and molecular characters. 2,523 samples were collected from the catches of fishermen during three periods of their appearance in Gorontalo Bay waters from January to March 2019. The samples were grouped based on their similarity of melanophore patterns, and morphometric characters of 10 units were then measured. This study found 20 different groups of melanophore patterns; 15 of them were new melanophore patterns. DNA samples from each group of new melanophore patterns were then isolated for molecular analysis. The morphometric analysis grouped the 20 melanophore patterns into three separate clusters that were confirmed through molecular analysis. The results of Gen Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) sequences indicate that the new melanophore patterns of Nike fish assemblages consisting of six species; five species in the Gobiidae family (i.e. Sicyopterus parvei, S. cynocephalus, S. longifilis, S. lagocephalus, and Stiphodon semoni) and a species in the Eleotridae family (Belobranchus belobranchus).
Abstract The high diversity of extant gobiids (Gobiidae: Teleostei) makes taxonomic and phylogenetic interpretation of fossil members of the clade a difficult task. To facilitate future taxonomic and ...systematic work on the group, we have assembled a morphological reference database encompassing skeletal characters, an otolith atlas and otolith morphometric data of 25 present-day species from the European Gobius lineage (s.l.) that represent 18 different genera and include all nine sublineages. We show that: (1) skeletal traits and morphometric otolith variables can be diagnostic for a sublineage; (2) otolith morphology allows identification at the genus and species levels; and (3) the number of anal-fin rays and details of the otolith margins can be used to discriminate closely related dwarf gobies. The skeletal and otolith characters are largely stable in the marine gobies analysed here, whereas freshwater gobies (Padogobius, Ponto-Caspian gobies) are far more variable. This might be related to the conquest by Padogobius and Ponto-Caspian gobies of freshwater and low-salinity habitats, in which environmental conditions can fluctuate widely. We anticipate that the database presented here can be used as a valuable reference tool to assess the relationships of fossil gobiids and increase our knowledge of the evolutionary history of the group as a whole.
ABSTRACT
Teleost fishes are the most diverse group of vertebrates on Earth. On tropical coral reefs, their species richness exceeds 6000 species; one tenth of total vertebrate biodiversity. A large ...proportion of this diversity is composed of cryptobenthic reef fishes (CRFs): bottom‐dwelling, morphologically or behaviourally cryptic species typically less than 50 mm in length. Yet, despite their diversity and abundance, these fishes are both poorly defined and understood. Herein we provide a new quantitative definition and synthesise current knowledge on the diversity, distribution and life history of CRFs. First, we use size distributions within families to define 17 core CRF families as characterised by the high prevalence (>10%) of small‐bodied species (<50 mm). This stands in strong contrast to 42 families of large reef fishes, in which virtually no small‐bodied species have evolved. We posit that small body size has allowed CRFs to diversify at extremely high rates, primarily by allowing for fine partitioning of microhabitats and facilitation of allopatric reproductive isolation; yet, we are far from understanding and documenting the biodiversity of CRFs. Using rates of description since 1758, we predict that approximately 30 new species of cryptobenthic species will be described per year until 2050 (approximately twice the annual rate compared to large fishes). Furthermore, we predict that by the year 2031, more than half of the described coral reef fish biodiversity will consist of CRFs. These fishes are the ‘hidden half’ of vertebrate biodiversity on coral reefs. Notably, global geographic coverage and spatial resolution of quantitative data on CRF communities is uniformly poor, which further emphasises the remarkable reservoir of biodiversity that is yet to be discovered. Although small body size may have enabled extensive diversification within CRF families, small size also comes with a suite of ecological challenges that affect fishes' capacities to feed, survive and reproduce; we identify a range of life‐history adaptations that have enabled CRFs to overcome these limitations. In turn, these adaptations bestow a unique socio‐ecological role on CRFs, which includes a key role in coral reef trophodynamics by cycling trophic energy provided by microscopic prey to larger consumers. Although small in body size, the ecology and evolutionary history of CRFs may make them a critical component of coral‐reef food webs; yet our review also shows that these fishes are highly susceptible to a variety of anthropogenic disturbances. Understanding the consequences of these changes for CRFs and coral reef ecosystems will require us to shed more light on this frequently overlooked but highly diverse and abundant guild of coral reef fishes.
Anthropogenic noise is a global pollutant but its potential impacts on early life-stages in fishes are largely unknown. Here, using controlled laboratory experiments, we tested for impacts of ...continuous or intermittent exposure to low-frequency broadband noise on early life-stages of the common goby (Pomatoschistus microps), a marine fish with exclusive paternal care. Neither continuous nor intermittent noise exposure had an effect on filial cannibalism, showing that males were capable and willing to care for their broods. However, broods reared in continuous noise covered a smaller area and contained fewer eggs than control broods. Moreover, although developmental rate was the same in all treatments, larvae reared by males in continuous noise had, on average, a smaller yolk sac at hatching than those reared in the intermittent noise and control treatments, while larvae body length did not differ. Thus, it appears that the increased consumption of the yolk sac reserve was not utilised for increased growth. This suggests that exposure to noise in early life-stages affects fitness-related traits of surviving offspring, given the crucial importance of the yolk sac reserve during the early life of pelagic larvae. More broadly, our findings highlight the wide-ranging impacts of anthropogenic noise on aquatic wildlife living in an increasingly noisy world.
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•Noise exposure during early life-stages affects fitness-related traits in fish.•Noise exposure decreases the yolk sac reserve during early life of pelagic larvae.•Brood size, brood area, and egg density decreased with increased noise.•Noise pollution had a negative effect on egg and larval development.•Highlights the wide-ranging impacts of anthropogenic noise on aquatic wildlife
Sahami FM, Habibie SA. 2021. Diversity of species in making up Nike fish schools and a new record of Eleotris melanosoma in Tomini Paguyaman Bay, Gorontalo, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 5459-5467. ...Several estuaries in the waters of Tomini Bay are reported as the primary location for Nike fishing in Gorontalo; one of which is Paguyaman Bay. However, scientific information on Nike fish in the Tomini Bay waters is currently limited in Gorontalo Bay. The present study aims to determine the diversity of species in making up the Nike fish schools in Paguyaman Bay and show the types of constituent species whose distribution in Gorontalo waters has never been reported. A total of 1773 samples of Nike fish were collected from the sea to the estuary of Paguyaman Bay in one period of their emergence on April 8-10, 2021. The species were grouped based on the melanophore pattern’s similarity and then analyzed morphometrically. The molecular identification of COI mitochondrial DNA was performed on species with different morphological appearances from those found in Gorontalo Bay. The Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) indicated that the main distinguishing character of morphometrics is body depth. The morphological results suggested that the Nike fish schools in Paguyaman Bay consisted of seven species, four genera, and two families, i.e., Sicyopterus longifilis, S. parvei, S. cynocephalus, Stiphodon semoni, Belobranchus segura, B. belobranchus, and Eleotris melanosoma. The first finding of E. melanosoma as a species making up the Nike fish schools in Paguyaman Bay was a new variant of the distribution of this species in Gorontalo waters and confirmed using morphology and molecular analysis. Further, based on the species composition, Nike fish schools in the waters of Paguyaman Bay show a typical species dominance trend during the recruitment process returning to freshwater, i.e., S. longifilis (52%) on the first day, Belobranchus segura (63.27%) on the second day, and Stiphodon semoni (83.43%) on the third day.
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