Littorally adaptive? Testing the link between habitat, morphology, and reproduction in the intertidal sculpin subfamily Oligocottinae (Pisces: Cottoidea).

ABSTRACT: While intertidal habitats are often productive, species-rich environments, they are also harsh and highly dynamic. Organisms that live in these habitats must possess morphological and physiological adaptations that enable them to do so. Intertidal fishes are generally small, often lack scales, and the diverse families represented in intertidal habitats often show convergence into a few general body shapes. However, few studies have quantified the relationship between phenotypes and intertidal living. Likewise, the diversity of reproductive traits and parental care in intertidal fishes has yet to be compared quantitatively with habitat. We examine the relationship of these characters in the sculpin subfamily Oligocottinae using a phylogenetic hypothesis, geometric morphometrics, and phyloge

SUBMITTER: Buser TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5554603 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature