Variation in age and size of mature nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) within and among 16 Fennoscandian populations were assessed using skeletochronology. The average age of individuals in a given population varied from 1.7 to 4.7 years. Fish from pond populations were on average older than those from lake and marine populations, and females tended to be older than males. Reproduct...

Diverse sex-chromosome systems are found in vertebrates, particularly in teleost fishes, where different systems can be found in closely related species. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the rapid turnover of sex chromosomes, including the transposition of an existing sex-determination gene, the appearance of a new sex-determination gene on an autosome, and fusions between sex chromoso...

The current geographical distribution of the ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) was shaped in large part by the glaciation events of the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 Mya-1 Kya). Previous efforts to elucidate the phylogeographical history of the ninespine stickleback in North America have focused on a limited set of morphological traits, some of which are likely subject to widespread converge...

Teleost fish genomes are known to be evolving faster than those of other vertebrate taxa. Thus, fish are suited to address the extent to which the same vs. different genes are responsible for similar phenotypic changes in rapidly evolving genomes of evolutionary independent lineages. To gain insights into the genetic basis and evolutionary processes behind parallel phenotypic changes within and...

the systematics, morphology, distribution, biology, economic importance and conservation of the sticklebacks and pipefishes of iran are described, the species are illustrated, and a bibliography on these fishes is provided. there are two sticklebacks ( gasterosteus aculeatus , an exotic, and pungitius platygaster , a native) and one native pipefish ( syngnathus caspius ), the natives found in t...

Aim Understanding the phylogeography of a species complex can provide important insights into its evolutionary history. However, phylogeographic inference often faces dilemma regionally inadequate sampling. Pungitius sticklebacks are case in point: although highest diversity is found Northeast Asia, their this region still poorly understood. Location Asia. Methods With aid whole-genome resequen...

As a consequence of colonisation from different glacial refugia, many northern European taxa are split into distinct western and eastern lineages. However, as for the nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius), the exact location of the contact zone between lineages often remains poorly known. We assessed the genetic differentiation and diversity in the nine-spined stickleback within Europe ...