Testing sensory drive speciation in cichlid fish: Linking light conditions to opsin expression, opsin genotype and female mate preference.

ABSTRACT: Ecological speciation is facilitated when divergent adaptation has direct effects on selective mating. Divergent sensory adaptation could generate such direct effects, by mediating both ecological performance and mate selection. In aquatic environments, light attenuation creates distinct photic environments, generating divergent selection on visual systems. Consequently, divergent sensory drive has been implicated in the diversification of several fish species. Here, we experimentally test whether divergent visual adaptation explains the divergence of mate preferences in Haplochromine cichlids. Blue and red Pundamilia co-occur across south-eastern Lake Victoria. They inhabit different photic conditions and have distinct visual system properties. Previously, we documented that rearing fish

SUBMITTER: Wright DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7187155 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature