Exploring the biological information content of growth increments in otoliths of Recent and fossil species of the Gobiidae (Teleostei)

探索戈壁科（Teleostei）近代物种和化石物种耳石生长增量的生物信息内容

• 批准号: 328193571
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Bettina Reichenbacher
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Sektion Paläontologie und Geobiologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2015-12-31 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/328193571?language=en
• 关键词: Exploring; biological; information; content; growth

Fish otoliths exhibit daily, seasonal and annual increments (growth rings and marks) that can provide important biological information on life history characteristics. Previously published studies indicate that growth analysis, determination of age at metamorphosis (transition from larva to juvenile fish) and at death is feasible based on otoliths of Recent gobiid (goby) species. In the proposed project we will first use the otoliths of Recent goby species to develop an optimized protocol for otolith thin-section preparation and to gather insights into analysis of growth patterns and age determination of a goby specimen. Because we are interested in identifying dwarf goby species in the fossil record, we will use for this first step the otoliths of two normal-sized (8-10 cm total fish length) and two dwarf goby species (< 4 cm total fish length). Next, we will apply the method to the otoliths of two fossil species (10 otoliths per species) to analyse growth and age patterns. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. M. Afzal Khan (India) who has great expertise in determining growth rates and ages based on otoliths from Recent fish species. Fossil otoliths of gobies are very abundant in the fossil record since the Miocene. If we succeed in defining life history characteristics and ages for the fossil goby species studied during this project, fossil otoliths will provide a new proxy for understanding the biology of ancient gobies (and possibly also for other fish groups). Furthermore, identification of a fossil dwarf goby would open up a completely new source of information on ancient goby species diversity. Thus, the outcome of the proposed project would significantly advance our understanding of the evolution of an important group of fishes.

鱼类耳石的日、季、年生长量（生长轮和生长痕）可以提供有关生活史特征的重要生物学信息。以前发表的研究表明，生长分析，确定年龄在变态（从幼虫到幼鱼的过渡），并在死亡是可行的基础上最近的虾虎鱼（虾虎鱼）物种的耳石。在拟议的项目中，我们将首先使用最近的虾虎鱼物种的耳石开发耳石薄切片制备的优化协议，并收集到虾虎鱼标本的生长模式和年龄测定分析的见解。因为我们对在化石记录中识别侏儒虾虎鱼物种感兴趣，所以我们将在第一步中使用两种正常大小（8-10厘米总鱼长）和两种侏儒虾虎鱼物种（< 4厘米总鱼长）的耳石。接下来，我们将应用该方法对两个化石物种的耳石（每个物种10个耳石）进行生长和年龄模式分析。该项目将与M博士合作。Afzal Khan（印度），他在根据最近鱼类的耳石确定生长率和年龄方面具有丰富的专业知识。中新世以来，虾虎鱼的化石耳石在化石记录中非常丰富。如果我们成功地确定了在这个项目中研究的化石虾虎鱼物种的生活史特征和年龄，化石耳石将为理解古代虾虎鱼的生物学提供一个新的替代品（也可能是其他鱼类）。此外，化石侏儒虾虎鱼的鉴定将开辟一个全新的信息来源，古代虾虎鱼物种多样性。因此，拟议项目的成果将大大推进我们对一组重要鱼类进化的理解。