The deep sea is a hot spot of fish body shape evolution.
Ecol Lett
; 24(9): 1788-1799, 2021 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34058793
ABSTRACT
Deep-sea fishes have long captured our imagination with striking adaptations to life in the mysterious abyss, raising the possibility that this cold, dark ocean region may be a key hub for physiological and functional diversification. We explore this idea through an analysis of body shape evolution across ocean depth zones in over 3000 species of marine teleost fishes. We find that the deep ocean contains twice the body shape disparity of shallow waters, driven by elevated rates of evolution in traits associated with locomotion. Deep-sea fishes display more frequent adoption of forms suited to slow and periodic swimming, whereas shallow living species are concentrated around shapes conferring strong, sustained swimming capacity and manoeuvrability. Our results support long-standing impressions of the deep sea as an evolutionary hotspot for fish body shape evolution and highlight that factors like habitat complexity and ecological interactions are potential drivers of this adaptive diversification.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Somatotipos
/
Peixes
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Ecol Lett
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos