Abstract
Body shape is a morphological attribute that frequently changes as organisms adapt to environmental fluctuations and optimize the use of available resources. In fish whose distribution includes estuarine and riverine environments, it is common to observe changes in body shape that are related to maneuverability and speed of movement in response to temporal and spatial variation in water flow. Here, through geometric morphometric and linear morphometric analysis, the intraspecific morphological variation of the cichlids Amphilophus trimaculatus, Astatheros macracanthus, and Mayaheros beani was evaluated to determine if there are repeated patterns of variation in body shape associated with estuarine and riverine environments. The three species showed the same trend of morphological variation; in the estuaries, the specimens were generally deeper and robust, with a long head and short caudal peduncle, while river specimens had shallowed and fusiform bodies with a short head and long caudal peduncle. The magnitude of the changes was not the same in the three species, as M. beani showed greater differentiation, and some morphological measures showed changes in opposite directions between the species. These findings indicate that the environment occupied by the species is an important factor in the differentiation of body shape, probably due to water flow, although other factors may determine the magnitude and direction of change in some morphological traits.
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Acknowledgements
AAGD and MSB thank SNI-CONAHCYT, and MSB thanks CONACHYT for the postdoctoral grant and SNI-CONACHYT. We thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Alfonso A. González-Díaz and Miriam Soria-Barreto. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Alfonso A. González-Díaz and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Care was taken in the handling and use of the captured fish in accordance with SEMARNAT’s laws, guidelines, and policies. Sampling was authorized under the fishing permit number PPF/DGOPA249/14 from CONAPESCA.
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González-Díaz, A.A., Soria-Barreto, M. & Martínez-Cárdenas, L. Repeated patterns in the body shape of distantly related estuarine and riverine cichlids from Northern Middle America. Environ Biol Fish 107, 335–345 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01534-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01534-1