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Body shape variation within the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae)

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Abstract

The Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus Girard 1859, is one of the most fascinating stygobionts of the Amblyopsidae because of its undescribed diversity. Previous molecular analysis suggests the presence of at least ten distinct lineages in the Southeastern United States. Morphological variation for this group has not been quantified previous to this study. We quantified differences in body shape within the Southern Cavefish utilizing landmark-based geometric morphometrics. We found significant allometry of body shape (Relative Warps) across all putative lineages. We then performed an allometric correction to develop a size-independent morphospace. Principal components analysis indicated that the major axes of size-independent shape explained variation in relative head length to predorsal length, as well as head size and shape in both lateral and dorsal views. We examined if morphological variation corresponded to putative genetic lineages and three geographic variables (aquifer, HUC subregion, and ecoregion). We found shape differences among groups within some variables, but generally, body shape variation was not well explained by these variables. Instead, the dramatic body shape diversity among individuals was explained by ontogeny. Poor agreement between morphology and lineages, as well as multiple geographic variables may be explained by convergent evolution of cave-adapted morphologies or cryptic morphology (i.e., no morphological characters to define diversity).

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the American Museum of Natural History Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant, Birmingham Audubon Society Walter F. Coxe Research Grant, the Auburn University Cell and Molecular Biology Peaks of Excellence Program, and the Alabama Department of Natural Resources. We would like to acknowledge several institutions for museum specimen loans: Auburn University Museum of Natural History, Canadian Museum of Nature Fish Collection, Illinois Natural History Survey, National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution, Tulane University Collections, University of Alabama Ichthyological Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Yale University Peabody Museum Ichthyological Collection. We thank the following individuals for their assistance: M. Niemiller and C. Stephen for collection help and support, S. Ferdous for GM software help. This paper is contribution No. 745 of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History. We are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers who helped improve our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Pamela B. H. Burress

  2. Department of Biological Sciences and Auburn University Museum of Natural History, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

    Pamela B. H. Burress, Edward D. Burress & Jonathan W. Armbruster

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  1. Pamela B. H. Burress
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  2. Edward D. Burress
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  3. Jonathan W. Armbruster
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Correspondence to Pamela B. H. Burress.

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This research is not in consideration or published elsewhere. Accession numbers of all specimens used in the analyses are provided in the supplementary material. All co-authors approve the submission of this manuscript. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Specimens were collected in accordance with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Alabama conservation license (2016087218468680-8823) and the Georgia Department of Conservation of Natural Resources scientific collecting permit (29-WJH-14-120), and Auburn University IACUC PRN 2014-2451.

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Burress, P.B.H., Burress, E.D. & Armbruster, J.W. Body shape variation within the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae). Zoomorphology 136, 365–377 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-017-0360-0

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