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Cryptic species of cardinalfish with evidence for old and new divergence

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Abstract

Larval dispersal and limited knowledge of physical boundaries challenge our understanding of the processes that drive genetic divergence and potential speciation in the marine environment. Divergence, both within and between populations of marine taxa, is not uncommon, but spatial and temporal stability of observed genetic structure is not well known. Previously, we detected large genetic differences among populations of the cardinalfish species Ostorhinchus doederleini inhabiting adjacent coral reefs. Here, we determined the spatial and temporal persistence of these genetic structures over the course of ten consecutive generations. Using microsatellite markers, we detected large changes (genetic population distance, D est, ranged from 0.04 to 0.46) in the genetic structure in some years, but some reefs maintained the same populations for nearly all sampling years. As this species’ life span does not exceed 1 yr, persistence of distinct reef populations suggests natal homing. Mitochondrial identity based on two mtDNA markers corroborates the nuclear genetic evidence for genetic differences large enough to constitute different clades and even cryptic species in O. doederleini, which, based on gross morphology, was thought to be a single taxon. Habitat specialization was observed in one clade that exclusively inhabited reef lagoons, while all clades could be observed on reef slopes. We suggest that local habitat recognition combined with local population recognition and selection against hybrids can form barriers that maintain a cryptic species complex.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mark O’Callaghan, Andreas Bally, Vanessa Miller-Sims, David Welsh, Naomi Gardiner and Felicity Smith for assistance with sample collection, and Susanne Wallenstein and students from the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA, for helping to process samples. Photograph of O. doederleini (Fig. 5b) was taken by Andreas Bally. Thanks to Sebastian Schmidt Roach for helpful comments on the manuscript; Gabrielle Miller for improving the language style. This work was funded by National Science Foundation Grant OCE-0452885, the German Science Foundation (Ge 842/6-1) to G.G. and OCE-0452988 to J.A., National Geographic Society Grant 7236-02, and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies grant (to M.J.K.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany

    Gabriele Gerlach, Fabian Deister & Anke Müller

  2. Boston University Marine Program, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Jelle Atema

  3. Senckenberg am Meer, German Center of Marine Biodiversity Research, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Michael J. Raupach

  4. Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia

    Gabriele Gerlach & Michael J. Kingsford

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  1. Gabriele Gerlach
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  2. Jelle Atema
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  3. Michael J. Raupach
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  4. Fabian Deister
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  5. Anke Müller
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Correspondence to Gabriele Gerlach.

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Communicated by Ecology Editor Dr. Michael Berumen

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Gerlach, G., Atema, J., Raupach, M.J. et al. Cryptic species of cardinalfish with evidence for old and new divergence. Coral Reefs 35, 437–450 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-015-1395-7

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