The chromosomes of the Mediterranean killifish, Aphanius fasciatus from two populations, the Lagoon of Venice (LV, 15 specimens) and the Lagoon "Stagnone di Marsala" (Sicily) (SM, 48 specimens), have been investigated using conventional Ag-staining and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with 18S rDNA probe. The two methods revealed variation in the number of major rDNA sites ranging from ...

Systematic assignment of fossil otoliths is virtually always based on studies of otolith morphology and subsequent comparisons with otoliths from collections and/or literature. Although this usually represents a practical method, comparisons and subsequent evaluation may be biased by subjective criteria used in the individual descriptions. Quantitative morphometric studies focusing on variation...

Transitional waters are fragile ecosystems with high ecological values, representing the breeding and resting sites for rare threatened species. They warrant particular attention in regards to protection, as they experience numerous anthropogenic threats. The present review aims analyze recent literature on Aphanius fasciatus, currently considered one of most strictly estuarine-dependent fish s...

To test vicariant speciation hypotheses derived from geological evidence of the closing of the Tethys Sea, we reconstruct phylogenetic relationships of the predominantly fresh-water killifish genus Aphanius using 3263 aligned base pairs of mitochondrial DNA from samples representing 49 populations of 13 species. We use additional 11 cyprinodontid species as outgroup taxa. Genes analysed include...

Two new species of Aphanius are described from the Kol drainage in southern Iran (Aphanius darabensis n. sp.) and the endorheic Kavir Basin in northern Iran (A. kavirensis n. sp.), and compared with eight closely related species. Aphanius darabensis n. sp. is sister to A. shirini, from which it is distinguished by molecular characters (cytochrome b) and the combination of three morphological ch...

Abstract Research on several social fishes has revealed that shoals constituted by familiar individuals behave remarkably differently compared to formed unfamiliar individuals. However, whether these behavioural changes may arise also in composed a mixture of and individuals, situation commonly occur nature, is not clear. Here, we observed the behaviour Mediterranean killifish ( Aphanius fascia...