Host use drives convergent evolution in clownfish.

ABSTRACT: Clownfishes (Amphiprioninae) are a fascinating example of a marine radiation. From a central Pacific ancestor, they quickly colonized the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific and diversified independently on each side of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Their association with sea anemones has been proposed to be a key innovation that enabled the clownfish radiation. However, this intuition has little empirical or theoretical support given our current knowledge of the group. To date, no ecological variable has been identified to explain clownfish niche partitioning, phenotypic evolution, species co-occurrence, and thus, the adaptive aspect of the group's radiation. Our study solves this long-standing mystery by testing the influence of sea anemone host use on phenotypic divergence. We provide a

SUBMITTER: Gaboriau T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12054820 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature