Researches on diversification and similization of body coloration among lacustrine freshwater fishes in Sulawesi

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26650167
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: University of the Ryukyus
• Principal Investigator: Yamahira Kazunori 琉球大学, 熱帯生物圏研究センター, 教授 (20322589)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KITANO Jun 国立遺伝学研究所, 集団遺伝研究系, 教授 (80346105) ; INOMATA Nobuyuki 福岡女子大学, 国際文理学部, 准教授 (20301335)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 性淘汰 / 収斂進化 / メダカ / スラウェシ / サヨリ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated body coloration of medaka and freshwater halfbeaks distributed in Sulawesi, an island right on the equator. Both in medaka and halfbeaks, the area of reddish parts in the side and the amount of internal carotenoids greatly differed among populations, but sympatric pairs of medaka and halfbeaks resembled each other in these characters. However, although the expression level of the long-wavelength (i.e., red) sensitive opsin gene in eye balls greatly differed among the populations in medaka, but such a interpopulation variation was not observed in halfbeaks. These results suggest that the diversification and similization of body coloration between these freshwater fishes do not reflect sensory-driven convergent evolution.

Free Research Field

進化生態学