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Developmental dissociation in morphological evolution of the stickleback opercle
Author(s) -
Kimmel Charles B.,
Hohenlohe Paul A.,
Ullmann Bonnie,
Currey Mark,
Cresko William A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
evolution and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1525-142X
pISSN - 1520-541X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-142x.2012.00551.x
Subject(s) - biology , habitat , taxon , freshwater fish , stickleback , ecology , zoology , evolutionary biology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery
SUMMARY Oceanic threespine sticklebacks have repeatedly and independently evolved new morphologies upon invasions of freshwater habitats. A consistent derived feature of the freshwater form across populations and geography is a shape change of the opercle, a large early developing facial bone. We show that the principal multivariate axis describing opercle shape development from the young larva to the full adult stage of oceanic fish matches the principal axis of evolutionary change associated with relocation from the oceanic to freshwater habitat. The opercle phenotype of freshwater adults closely resembles the phenotype of the bone in juveniles. Thus, evolution to the freshwater condition is in large part by truncation of development; the freshwater fish do not achieve the full ancestral adult bone shape. Additionally, the derived state includes dissociated ontogenetic changes. Dissociability may reflect an underlying modular pattern of opercle development, and facilitate flexibility of morphological evolution.