Evolution of feeding specialization in Tanganyikan scale-eating cichlids: a molecular phylogenetic approach.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika exhibit remarkable diversity in their feeding habits. Among them, seven species in the genus Perissodus are known for their unique feeding habit of scale eating with specialized feeding morphology and behaviour. Although the origin of the scale-eating habit has long been questioned, its evolutionary process is still unknown. In the present study, we conducted interspecific phylogenetic analyses for all nine known species in the tribe Perissodini (seven Perissodus and two Haplotaxodon species) using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analyses of the nuclear DNA. On the basis of the resultant phylogenetic frameworks, the evolution of their feeding habits was traced using data from analyses of stomach contents, habitat depths, an

SUBMITTER: Takahashi R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2212659 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature