Endocrine disruptors have devastating impacts on the reproductive physiology of aquatic organisms. The Gulf pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli , is a sexually dimorphic species, which demonstrates predictable morphological, physiological, behavioral, and genetic responses to synthetic estrogen exposure. It has broad geographic range, spanning freshwater marine environments, making it potential senti...

—Cold tolerance of striped bass Morone saxatilis, white bass M. chrysops, palmetto bass (female striped bass 3 male white bass), and sunshine bass (female white bass 3 male striped bass) were compared under controlled laboratory conditions. Two groups of each taxon were acclimated at 208C in a recirculating-water system housed in an environmental chamber and were fed either a natural or prepare...

The exceptionally high speed at which syngnathid fishes are able to rotate their snout towards prey and capture it by suction is potentially caused by a catapult mechanism in which the energy previously stored in deformed elastic elements is suddenly released. According to this hypothesis, tension is built up in tendons of the post-cranial muscles before prey capture is initiated. Next, an abru...

Extreme climate events such as heat waves are expected to increase in frequency under global change. As one indirect effect, they can alter magnitude and direction of species interactions, for example those between hosts and parasites. We simulated a summer heat wave to investigate how a changing environment affects the interaction between the broad-nosed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) as a host ...

Empirical studies of sexual selection often focus on events occurring either before or after mating but rarely both and consequently may fail to discern the relative magnitudes and interactions of premating and postmating episodes of selection. Here, we simultaneously quantify premating and postmating selection in the sex-role-reversed Gulf pipefish by using a microsatellite-based analysis of p...