Many ways to build an angler: diversity of feeding morphologies in a deep-sea evolutionary radiation
Many ways to build an angler: diversity of feeding morphologies in a deep-sea evolutionary radiation
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DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2023.0049
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发表时间：
2023-06-28
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Miller，Elizabeth Christina
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Heiple，Zach;Huie，Jonathan M.;Miller，Elizabeth Christina
人们对深海鱼类的饮食几乎一无所知，但功能形态可以为推断生态学提供有用的工具。在这里，我们量化了横跨浅海和深海栖息地的鳗形目鱼类的颌骨和牙齿形态的变化。深海角鲨被认为是饮食通才，因为在食物有限的深海区域有必要进行机会性摄食。我们在角形鳗鱼的营养形态上发现了意想不到的多样性。角鲨的功能范围从牙齿粗壮、咬得相对缓慢但有力、一端颌骨突出度高的物种(底栖鳗鱼共有的特征)到长尖牙、快速但弱咬合、另一端颌骨突出度低的物种(包括独特的“Wolftrap”表型)。我们对高度形态多样性的发现似乎与生态学的普遍性不一致，这让人想起Liem的悖论(形态特化允许有机体拥有更广泛的生态位)。另一种可能的解释是，不同的脊椎动物功能形态可能产生类似的营养成功(形态与饮食的多对一映射)，允许通过中性进化过程产生多样性。我们的研究结果表明，在深海中成为成功的捕食者有很多方法。
Almost nothing is known about the diets of bathypelagic fishes, but functional morphology can provide useful tools to infer ecology. Here we quantify variation in jaw and tooth morphologies across anglerfishes (Lophiiformes), a clade spanning shallow and deep-sea habitats. Deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes are considered dietary generalists due to the necessity of opportunistic feeding in the food-limited bathypelagic zone. We found unexpected diversity in the trophic morphologies of ceratioid anglerfishes. Ceratioid jaws span a functional continuum ranging from species with numerous stout teeth, a relatively slow but forceful bite, and high jaw protrusibility at one end (characteristics shared with benthic anglerfishes) to species with long fang-like teeth, a fast but weak bite and low jaw protrusibility at the other end (including a unique ‘wolftrap’ phenotype). Our finding of high morphological diversity seems to be at odds with ecological generality, reminiscent of Liem's paradox (morphological specialization allowing organisms to have broader niches). Another possible explanation is that diverse ceratioid functional morphologies may yield similar trophic success (many-to-one mapping of morphology to diet), allowing diversity to arise through neutral evolutionary processes. Our results highlight that there are many ways to be a successful predator in the deep sea.