Transposable elements (TEs) are major components of vertebrate genomes, with major roles in genome architecture and evolution. In order to characterize both common patterns and lineage-specific differences in TE content and TE evolution, we have compared the mobilomes of 23 vertebrate genomes, including 10 actinopterygian fish, 11 sarcopterygians, and 2 nonbony vertebrates. We found important v...

This essay attempts to bring into perspective the importance of hereditary as well as environmental factors as potential causes of neoplasms in feral fishes. Concepts delineated by Knudson regarding hereditary cancers in man and experimental animals will probably be found operative in certain demographic units (oncozoons) among feral fishes bearing neoplasms. Hereditary factors include: antionc...

In the present work Trichodina reticulata and T. nobilis (Ciliophora: Trichodinidae) are morphologically characterised from ornamental freshwater fish culture in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The prevalence of infection and a list of comparative measurements are discussed. We examined "southern platyfish" Xiphophorus maculatus (n = 35), "goldfish" Carassius auratus (n = 31), "guppy" Poec...

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques are now key tools in the detection of population genomic and gene expression differences in a large array of organisms. However, so far few studies have utilized such data for phylogenetic estimations. Here, we use NGS data obtained from genome-wide restriction site-associated DNA (RAD) (∼66000 SNPs) to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among al...

Twenty-nine populations of Xiphophorus fishes representing nine species of northern swordtails, one southern swordtail and a platyfish were assayed electrophoretically for allozyme variation. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using parsimony and likeUhood analysis of gene frequency characters, as well as Fitch-Margoliash, minimum evolution and neighbor-joining analyses of genetic distanc...

Abstract: Aim This work reports the first occurrence of exotic species Xiphophorus maculatus (Günther, 1866) in Sorocaba River Basin. The introduction non-native fish has become common and many have been introduced mainly through sport fishing, aquaculture aquarium keeping. In case Poeciliidae, most that recorded come environment where specimens were captured had a large number macrophytes due ...

Polymorphisms in reproductive strategies are among the most extreme and complex in nature. A prominent example is male body size and the correlated reproductive strategies in some species of platyfish and swordtails of the genus Xiphophorus. This polymorphism is controlled by a single Mendelian locus (P) that determines the onset of sexual maturity of males. Because males cease growth after rea...

Sex-specific markers are a prerequisite for understanding reproductive biology, genetic factors involved in sex differences, mechanisms of sex determination, and ultimately the evolution of sex chromosomes. The Western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, may be considered a model species for sex-chromosome evolution, as it displays female heterogamety (ZW/ZZ), and is also ecologically interesting a...