The evolutionary adaptations of functional genes to life at high pressure are not well understood. To elucidate the mechanisms of protein adaptation to high pressure, we cloned the myosin heavy chain (MyHC) cDNA from skeletal muscle of two deep-sea fishes, Coryphaenoides yaquinae and C. armatus, and two non-deep-sea fishes, C. acrolepis and C. cinereus. The MyHCs of deep-sea fishes have a uniqu...

Annual fishes are found in both Africa and South America occupying ephemeral ponds that dried seasonally. Neotropical annual fishes are members of the family Rivulidae that consist of both annual and non-annual fishes. Annual species are characterized by a prolonged embryonic development and a relatively short adult life. Males and females show striking sexual dimorphisms, complex courtship, an...

Introduced freshwater fishes impact native Hawaiian stream fishes in two important ways. In addition to direct negative effects associated factors such as predation, competition, and interference, indirect effects may occur when exotic fishes transfer their parasites to native hosts. Six species of helminths that have been introduced with alien live-bearing fishes, including guppies, green swor...

This study investigated the hematological parameters of the tropical estuarine fish Centropomus parallelus and their use as a non-destructive biomarker for aquatic pollution. Individuals were collected, in summer and winter, at two estuaries, Cananéia (CAN) and São Vicente (SVE), and blood was extracted by caudal puncture. The evaluated parameters were hematocrit (Ht), red blood cells (RBC), Me...

A newly developed computer-based method for the analysis of length-frequency data (ELEFAN I & II) is applied to data on reef fishes. It is shown that the growth of reef fishes often oscillates seasonally, and that adjusting for this effect considerably increases the accuracy of growth parameter estimates. This is also confirmed by a re-analysis of tagging data from the Caribbean. Potential caus...

Predation is one mechanism that could lead to low native fish abundance in macrophyte dominated shallow-water habitats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. We used beach seine and gill net sampling to identify and compare the distribution and feeding ecology of three piscivores (striped bass, Morone saxatilis, largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, and Sacramento pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus gran...

References 107 Abstract Genetic and environmental factors may interact to control sex determination in fishes. A common pattern of initial female differentiation and subsequentmale transformation before maturation in non-hermaphroditic fishes and after maturation in sequentially hermaphroditic fishes has suggested that changes in developmental timing may be responsible for the evolution of vari...

Theory suggests that alternative resources may begin to support a food web when highly used resources become less available relative to alternatives. To test the potential for alternative resources to support consumers, we experimentally darkened a lake whose consumers had relied heavily on algal resources (phytoplankton and benthic algae). We estimated the support consumers received from resou...

We analysed stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), plants, detritus and fishes to estimate the relative importance of dominant production sources supporting food webs of four Venezuelan rivers with divergent geochemical and watershed characteristics. Based on samples taken during the dry season at each site, fishes from two nutrient-poor, blackwater rive...

Although rare within the context of 30 000 species of extant fishes, scale-feeding as an ecological strategy has evolved repeatedly across the teleost tree of life. Scale-feeding (lepidophagous) fishes are diverse in terms of their ecology, behaviour, and specialized morphologies for grazing on scales and mucus of sympatric species. Despite this diversity, the underlying ontogenetic changes in ...