Title
Interspecific variation in gill size is correlated to ambient dissolved oxygen in the Amazonian electric fish Brachyhypopomus (Gymnotiformes: Hypopomidae)
Abbreviated Journal Title
Environ. Biol. Fishes
Keywords
Anoxia; Floodplain; Gill morphology; Hypoxia; Knifefishes; BARBUS-NEUMAYERI; FUNCTIONAL-MORPHOLOGY; RESPIRATORY-FUNCTION; INTERDEMIC VARIATION; PAPYRUS SWAMPS; HYPOXIA; TOLERANCE; LAKE; FLOODPLAIN; DIVERSITY; Ecology; Marine & Freshwater Biology
Abstract
Gymnotiform electric fish assemblage structure is strongly correlated to dissolved oxygen (DO) availability, which exhibits considerable heterogeneity among Amazonian aquatic systems. DO is known to influence the respiratory morphology of gymnotiform fishes, and yet species-level variation among congeners endemic to alternative DO regimes has not been examined. We describe the DO environment experienced by four congeneric species of gymnotiforms (Brachyhypopomus) and correlate this to quantitative variation in a suite of gill metrics. Whitewater floodplain lakes flanking nutrient-rich whitewater rivers are seasonally hypoxic, exhibiting oxygen concentrations close to 0 mg/l from late April until September. In contrast, DO levels in blackwater floodplain lakes and in terra firme forest stream habitats remain high throughout the year. Two common species of Brachyhypopomus restricted to periodically anoxic whitewater floodplain exhibited a substantially greater gill size than two common species restricted to the perpetually well-oxygenated waters of blackwater floodplain lakes and terra firme stream systems. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) based on gill metrics separated the species that live in seasonally anoxic whitewater floodplain species from those that live in perpetually-well oxygenated habitats. Our observations suggest a history of adaptive divergence in the gill morphology of Brachyhypopomus associated with oxygen availability.
Journal Title
Environmental Biology of Fishes
Volume
83
Issue/Number
2
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Document Type
Article
Language
English
First Page
223
Last Page
235
WOS Identifier
ISSN
0378-1909
Recommended Citation
"Interspecific variation in gill size is correlated to ambient dissolved oxygen in the Amazonian electric fish Brachyhypopomus (Gymnotiformes: Hypopomidae)" (2008). Faculty Bibliography 2000s. 242.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/facultybib2000/242
Comments
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