Geographic variation in opsin expression does not align with opsin genotype in Lake Victoria cichlid populations.

ABSTRACT: Sensory adaptation to the local environment can contribute to speciation. Aquatic environments are well suited for studying this process: The natural attenuation of light through water results in heterogeneous light environments, to which vision-dependent species must adapt for communication and survival. Here, we study visual adaptation in sympatric Pundamilia cichlids from southeastern Lake Victoria. Species with blue or red male nuptial coloration co-occur at many rocky islands but tend to be depth-differentiated, entailing different visual habitats, more strongly at some islands than others. Divergent visual adaptation to these environments has been implicated as a major factor in the divergence of P. pundamilia and P. nyererei, as they show consistent differentiat

SUBMITTER: Wright DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6686298 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature