Phylogenetics

Abstract

Tropical deep reefs (~40–300 m) are diverse ecosystems that serve as habitats for diverse communities of reef-associated fishes. Deep-reef fish communities are taxonomically and ecologically distinct from those on shallow reefs, but like those on shallow reefs, they are home to a species-rich assemblage of small, cryptobenthic reef fishes, including many species from the family Gobiidae (gobies). Here we describe two new species of deep-reef gobies, Varicus prometheus sp. nov. and V. roatanensis sp. nov., that were collected using the submersible Idabel from rariphotic reefs off the island of Roatan (Honduras) in the Caribbean. The new species are the 11th and 12th species of the genus Varicus, and their placement in the genus is supported by morphological data and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Additionally, we also collected new specimens of the closely-related genus and species Pinnichthys aimoriensis during submersible collections off the islands of Bonaire and St. Eustatius (Netherland Antilles) and included them in this study to expand the current description of that species and document its range extension from Brazil into the Caribbean. Collectively, the two new species of Varicus and new records of P. aimoriensis add to our growing knowledge of cryptobenthic fish diversity on deep reefs of the Caribbean.

Abstract

Macrodasyidan gastrotrichs are hermaphrodites with complex reproductive organs that function in sperm transfer and receipt, but homology among the organs of members of different clades remains undetermined, as does a broader understanding of evolutionary trends in the reproductive biology of macrodasyidans. In this study, we investigate the evolution of reproduction in Urodasys, a clade of 15 macrodasyidan species that shows variability in reproductive mode (hermaphroditic and parthenogenetic) and sexual anatomy. We use partial 18S rDNA sequence data from 30 specimens representing five described species, sequence data from one undescribed species in GenBank, and sequence data from a potentially new species found at Capron Shoal, Florida, to gain insight into the phylogeny of the clade and clarify evolutionary trends in reproductive modality. Based on a total of 33 specimens of seven potential species, we found that members ofUrodasys can be separated into three clades reflective of different reproductive modalities: Clade I, species with paired male and female gonads but without accessory sexual organs; Clade II, species with a single left testis, paired ova, and accessory organs including a sclerotic stylet; and Clade III, parthenogenetic species without testes or accessory organs. In addition, we find that the potentially new species from Florida can form spermatophores, a condition shared with another species in Clade I. Herein, we describe this novel spermatophore-bearing species and discuss the significance of spermatophore formation in the genus.

The composition, ecology and environmental conditions of mesophotic coral ecosystems near the lower limits of their bathymetric distributions remain poorly understood. Here we provide the first in-depth assessment of a lower mesophotic coral community (60–100 m) in the Southern Caribbean through visual submersible surveys, genotyping of coral host-endosymbiont assemblages, temperature monitoring and a growth experiment. The lower mesophotic zone harbored a specialized coral community consisting of predominantly Agaricia grahamae, Agaricia undata and a “deep-water” lineage of Madracis pharensis, with large colonies of these species observed close to their lower distribution limit of ~90 m depth. All three species associated with “deep-specialist” photosynthetic endosymbionts (Symbiodinium). Fragments of A. grahamae exhibited growth rates at 60 m similar to those observed for shallow Agaricia colonies (~2–3 cm yr −1), but showed bleaching and (partial) mortality when transplanted to 100 m. We propose that the strong reduction of temperature over depth (Δ5°C from 40 to 100 m depth) may play an important contributing role in determining lower depth limits of mesophotic coral communities in this region. Rather than a marginal extension of the reef slope, the lower mesophotic represents a specialized community, and as such warrants specific consideration from science and management. 

Abstract

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the limitation of brain size in vertebrates. Here, we test three hypotheses of brain size evolution using marine teleost fishes: the direct metabolic constraints hypothesis (DMCH), the expensive tissue hypothesis and the temperature-dependent hypothesis. Our analyses indicate that there is a robust positive correlation between encephalization and basal metabolic rate (BMR) that spans the full range of depths occupied by teleosts from the epipelagic (< 200 m), mesope- lagic (200–1000 m) and bathypelagic (> 4000 m). Our results disentangle the effects of temperature and metabolic rate on teleost brain size evolution, supporting the DMCH. Our results agree with previous findings that teleost brain size decreases with depth; however, we also recover a negative corre- lation between trophic level and encephalization within the mesopelagic zone, a result that runs counter to the expectations of the expensive tissue hypothesis. We hypothesize that mesopelagic fishes at lower trophic levels may be investing more in neural tissue related to the detection of small prey items in a low-light environment. We recommend that comparative encephalization  studies control for BMR in addition to controlling for body size and phylogeny.