Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hydrogen Sulfide-Toxic Habitats

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Extremophile Fishes

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a potent respiratory toxicant that is lethal to most metazoans (including fishes) in micromolar concentrations, as demonstrated by mass kills following environmental spills. Nevertheless, a number of teleosts have adapted to, and thrive in, habitats with high ambient H2S concentrations as found, for example, at marine hydrothermal vents (“black smokers”), cold seeps, or in freshwater sulfide springs. Livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae) dominate amongst freshwater fishes inhabiting sulfide spring in the New World and are the most studied group of freshwater sulfide-dwellers. In this chapter, we identify targets of directional selection in sulfidic habitats and demonstrate how these affect different levels of biological organization (e.g., cellular functioning and molecular evolution, morphology and organ evolution, whole body performance and eco-physiological traits, life histories). We highlight multifarious selective regimes arising from correlated abiotic stressors (like hypoxia) and altered ecological parameters (like truncated ecological communities and altered predatory regimes). Finally, we discuss the evidence for replicated ecological speciation as a result of independent evolutionary transitions in different lineages of poeciliids into sulfide waters, and we summarize studies examining the question of how local adaptation translates into the emergence of reproductive isolation due to selection against non-adapted individuals migrating between habitat types.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abel DC, Koenig CC, Davis WP (1987) Emersion in the mangrove forest fish Rivulus marmoratus: a unique response to hydrogen sulfide. Environ Biol Fish 18:67–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Affonso EG, Rantin FT (2005) Respiratory responses of the air-breathing fish Hoplosternum littorale to hypoxia and hydrogen sulfide. Comp Biochem Physiol Part C: Toxicol Pharmacol 141:275–280

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez J (1948) Descripción de una nueva especie de Mollienisia capturada en Baños del Azufre, Tabasco (Pisces, Poeciliidae). An Esc Nac Cienc Biol 5:275–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson MB (1994) Sexual selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Bagarinao T (1992) Sulfide as an environmental factor and toxicant: tolerance and adaptations in aquatic organisms. Aquat Toxicol 24:21–62

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bagarinao T, Vetter RD (1989) Sulfide tolerance and detoxification in shallow-water marine fishes. Mar Biol 103:291–302

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bashey F (2008) Competition as a selective mechanism for larger offspring size in guppies. Oikos 117:104–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Beinart RA, Sanders JG, Faure B, Sylva SP, Lee RW, Becker EL, Gartman A, Luther GW, Seewald JS, Fisher CR, Girguis PR (2012) Evidence for the role of endosymbionts in regional-scale habitat partitioning by hydrothermal vent symbioses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:E3241–E3250

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierbach D, Klein M, Sassmannshausen V, Schlupp I, Riesch R, Parzefall J, Plath M (2012) Divergent evolution of male aggressive behaviour another reproductive isolation barrier in extremophile poeciliid fishes? Int J Evol Biol 2012:148745

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bierbach D, Schulte M, Herrmann N, Zimmer C, Arias-Rodriguez L, Indy JR, Riesch R, Plath M (2013) Predator avoidance in extremophile fish. Life 3:161–180

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Biscoito M (2006) Chordata, Chondrichthyes & Osteichthyes. In: Desbruyères D, Segonzac M, Bright M (eds) Handbook of deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. Denisia 18:489–490

    Google Scholar 

  • Biscoito M, Segonzac M, Almeida AJ, Desbruyeres D, Geistdoerfer P, Turnipseed M, Van Dover C (2002) Fishes from the hydrothermal vents and cold seeps – an update. Cah Biol Mar 43:359–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn DG (1999) Viviparity and oviparity: evolution and reproductive strategies. In: Knobil TE, Neill JD (eds) Encyclopedia of reproduction. Academic Press, New York, NY, pp 994–1003

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn DG (2005) Evolutionary origins of viviparity in fishes. In: Grier HJ, Uribe MC (eds) Viviparous fishes. New Life Publications, Homestead, FL, pp 287–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Brauner CJ, Ballantyne CL, Randall DJ, Val AL (1995) Air breathing in the armoured catfish (Hoplosternum littorale) as an adaptation to hypoxic, acidic, and hydrogen sulphide rich waters. Can J Zool 73:739–744

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockelman WY (1975) Competition, the fitness of offspring, and optimal clutch size. Am Nat 109:677–699

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavanaugh CM, Gardiner SL, Jones ML, Jannasch HW, Waterbury JB (1981) Prokaryotic cells in the hydrothermal vent tube worm Riftia pachyptila Jones: possible chemoautotrophic symbionts. Science 213:340–342

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen KY, Morris JC (1972) Kinetics of oxidation of aqueous sulfide by oxygen. Environ Sci Technol 6:529–537

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (1990) How monkeys see the world. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Cline JD, Richards FA (1969) Oxygenation of hydrogen sulfide in seawater at constant salinity, temperature and pH. Environ Sci Technol 3:838–843

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coad BW (1980) A re-description of Aphanius ginaonis (Holly, 1929) from southern Iran (Osteichthyes: Cyprinodontiformes). J Nat Hist 14:33–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen DM, Rosenblatt RH, Moser HG (1990) Biology and description of a bythitid fish from deep-sea thermal vents in the tropical eastern Pacific. Deep-Sea Res 37:267–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper CE, Brown GC (2008) The inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase by the gases carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen sulfide: chemical mechanism and physiological significance. J Bioenerg Biomembr 40:533–539

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eifert C, Farnworth M, Schulz–Mirbach T, Riesch R, Bierbach D, Klaus S, Wurster A, Tobler M, Streit B, Indy JR, Arias–Rodriguez L, Plath M (2014) Brain size variation in extremophile fish: local adaptation vs. phenotypic plasticity. J Zool Lond (online first)

    Google Scholar 

  • Elmer KR, Meyer A (2011) Adaptation in the age of ecological genomics: insights from parallelism and convergence. Trends Ecol Evol 26:298–306

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geiger SP, Torres JJ, Crabtree RE (2000) Air breathing and gill ventilation frequencies in juvenile tarpon, Megalops atlanticus: responses to changes in dissolved oxygen, temperature, hydrogen sulfide, and pH. Environ Biol Fishes 59:181–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon MS, Rosen DE (1962) A cavernicolous form of the poeciliid fish Poecilia sphenops from Tabasco, Mexico. Copeia 1962:360–368

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenway R, Arias-Rodriguez L, Diaz P, Tobler M (2014) Patterns of macroinvertebrate and fish diversity in freshwater sulphide springs. Diversity 6:597–632

    Google Scholar 

  • Grieshaber MK, Völkel S (1998) Animal adaptations for tolerance and exploitation of poisonous sulfide. Annu Rev Physiol 60:33–53

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton A (2001) Phylogeny of Limia (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) based on NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequences. Mol Phylogenet Evol 19:277–289

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrandt TM, Grieshaber MK (2008) Three enzymatic activities catalyze the oxidation of sulfide to thiosulfate in mammalian and invertebrate mitochondria. FEBS J 275:3352–3361

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jahn A, Janas U, Theede H, Szaniawska A (1997) Significance of body size in sulphide detoxification in the Baltic clam Macoma balthica (Bivalvia, Tellinidae) in the Gulf of Gdansk. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 154:175–183

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jannasch HW, Taylor CD (1984) Deep-sea microbiology. Annu Rev Microbiol 38:487–514

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jørgensen C, Auer SK, Reznick DN (2011) A model for optimal offspring size in fish, including live-bearing and parental effects. Am Nat 177:E119–E135

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jourdan J, Bierbach D, Riesch R, Dzienko J, Karau N, Oranth A, Stadler S, Schießl A, Wigh A, Arias-Rodriguez L, Indy JR, Klaus S, Zimmer C, Plath M (2014) Microhabitat use, population densities, and size distributions of sulfur cave-dwelling Poecilia mexicana. PeerJ 2:e490

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley JL (2008) Assessment of predation risk by prey fishes. In: Magnhagen C, Braithwaite VA, Forsgren E, Kapoor BG (eds) Fish behaviour. Science Publishers, Enfield, NH, pp 269–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelley JL, Magurran AE (2003) Effects of relaxed predation pressure on visual predator recognition in the guppy. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 54:225–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick M (2001) Reinforcement during ecological speciation. Proc R Soc Lond B 268:2616

    Google Scholar 

  • Lagoutte E, Mimoun S, Andriamihaja M, Chaumontet C, Blachier F, Bouillaud F (2010) Oxidation of hydrogen sulfide remains a priority in mammalian cells and causes reverse electron transfer in colonocytes. Biochim Biophys Acta 1797:1500–1511

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langecker TG, Wilkens H, Parzefall J (1996) Studies on the trophic structure of an energy rich Mexican cave (Cueva de las Sardinas) containing sulfurous water. Mem Biospeol 23:121–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Langerhans RB, DeWitt TJ (2004) Shared and unique features of evolutionary diversification. Am Nat 164:335–349

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langerhans RB, Riesch R (2013) Speciation by selection: a framework for understanding ecology’s role in speciation. Curr Zool 59:31–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Li L, Rose P, Moore PK (2011) Hydrogen sulfide and cell signaling. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 51:169–187

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Little CTS, Vrijenhoek RC (2003) Are hydrothermal vent animals living fossils? Trends Ecol Evol 18:582–588

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB (2011) Convergence, adaptation, and constraint. Evolution 65:1827–1840

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lozano-Vilano ML, Contreras-Balderas S (1999) Cyprinodon bobmilleri: new species of pupfish from Nuevo León, México (Pisces: Cyprinodontidae). Copeia 1999:382–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcia M, Ermler U, Peng G, Michel H (2009) The structure of Aquifex aeolicus sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase, a basis to understand sulfide detoxification and respiration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:9625–9630

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Micheli F, Peterson CH, Mullineaux LS et al (2002) Predation structures communities at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Ecol Monogr 72:365–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller RR (1975) Five new species of Mexican poeciliid fishes of the genera Poecilia, Gambusia, and Poeciliopsis. Occ Pap Mus Zool Univ Mich 672:1–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Møller PR, Gravlund P (2003) Phylogeny of the eelpout genus Lycodes (Pisces, Zoarcidae) as inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S rDNA. Mol Phylogenet Evol 26:369–388

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Munroe TA, Hashimoto J (2008) A new Western Pacific Tonguefish (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae): the first Pleuronectiform discovered at active hydrothermal vents. Zootaxa 1839:43–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Munroe TA, Tyler J, Tunnicliffe V (2011) Description and biological observations on a new species of deepwater symphurine tonguefish (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae: Symphurus) collected at Volcano–19, Tonga Arc, West Pacific Ocean. Zootaxa 3061:53–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Nosil P (2012) Ecological speciation. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Palacios M, Arias-Rodriguez L, Plath M, Eifert C, Lerp H, Lamboj A, Voelkel G, Tobler M (2013) The rediscovery of a long described species reveals additional complexity in speciation patterns of poeciliid fishes in sulfide springs. PLoS One 8:e71069

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parzefall J (1974) Rückbildung aggressiver Verhaltensweisen bei einer Höhlenform von Mollienesia sphenops (Pisces, Poeciliidae). Z Tierpsychol 35:66–84

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parzefall J (1979) Zur Genetik und biologischen Bedeutung des Aggressionsverhaltens von Poecilia sphenops (Pisces, Poeciliidae). Z Tierpsychol 50:399–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Parzefall J (1993) Schooling behaviour in population-hybrids of Astyanax fasciatus and Poecilia mexicana (Pisces, Characidae and Poeciliidae). In: Schröder H, Bauer J, Schartl M (eds) Trends in ichthyology. Blackwell Science, Oxford, pp 297–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfenninger M, Lerp H, Tobler M, Passow C, Kelley JL, Funke E, Greshake B, Erkoc UK, Berberich T, Plath M (2014) Parallel evolution of cox-genes in H2S-tolerant fish as key adaptation to a toxic environment. Nat Commun 5:3873

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plath M (2008) Male mating behavior and costs of sexual harassment for females in cavernicolous and extremophile populations of Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana). Behaviour 145:73–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Schlupp I (2008) Parallel evolution leads to reduced shoaling behavior in two cave dwelling populations of Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei). Environ Biol Fish 82:289–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Tobler M (2010) Subterranean fishes of Mexico (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae). In: Trajano E, Bichuette ME, Kapoor BG (eds) The biology of subterranean fishes. Science Publishers, Enfield, NH, pp 283–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Parzefall J, Schlupp I (2003) The role of sexual harassment in cave and surface dwelling populations of the Atlantic molly, Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae, Teleostei). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 54:303–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Heubel KU, Garcia de Leon FJ, Schlupp I (2005) Cave molly females (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei) like well-fed males. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 58:144–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Brümmer A, Parzefall J, Schlupp I (2006) Size–dependent male mating behaviour and sexual harassment in a population of Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana) from a sulphur creek. Acta Ethol 9:15–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Hauswaldt JS, Moll K, Tobler M, García de León FJ, Schlupp I, Tiedemann R (2007a) Local adaptation and pronounced genetic differentiation in an extremophile fish, Poecilia mexicana, inhabiting a Mexican cave with toxic hydrogen sulphide. Mol Ecol 16:967–976

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Tobler M, Riesch R, García de León FJ, Giere O, Schlupp I (2007b) Survival in an extreme habitat: the roles of behaviour and energy limitation. Naturwissenschaften 94:991–996

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Riesch R, Oranth A, Dzienko J, Karau N, Schießl A, Stadler S, Wigh A, Zimmer C, Arias-Rodriguez L, Schlupp I, Tobler M (2010) Complementary effect of natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintains differentiation between locally adapted fish. Naturwissenschaften 97:769–774

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plath M, Pfenninger M, Lerp H, Riesch R, Eschenbrenner C, Slattery PA, Bierbach D, Herrmann N, Schulte M, Arias-Rodriguez L, Indy JR, Passow C, Tobler M (2013) Genetic differentiation and selection against migrants in evolutionarily replicated extreme environments. Evolution 67:2647–2661

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powell E (1989) Oxygen, sulfide and diffusion: why thiobiotic meiofauna must be sulfide-insensitive first-order respirers. J Mar Res 47:887–932

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reiffenstein RJ, Hulbert WC, Roth SH (1992) Toxicology of hydrogen sulfide. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 32:109–134

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Plath M, Schlupp I, Tobler M, Langerhans RB (2014) Colonisation of toxic environments drives predictable life-history evolution in livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae). Ecol Lett 17:65–71

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Duwe V, Herrmann N, Padur L, Ramm A, Scharnweber K, Schulte M, Schulz-Mirbach T, Ziege M, Plath M (2009) Variation along the shy–bold continuum in extremophile fishes (Poecilia mexicana, Poecilia sulphuraria). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63:1515–1526

    Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Oranth A, Dzienko J, Karau N, Schießl A, Stadler S, Wigh A, Zimmer C, Arias-Rodriguez L, Schlupp I, Plath M (2010a) Extreme habitats are not refuges: poeciliids suffer from increased aerial predation risk in sulphidic southern Mexican habitats. Biol J Linn Soc 101:417–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Plath M, García de León F, Schlupp I (2010b) Convergent life-history shifts: toxic environments result in big babies in two clades of poeciliids. Naturwissenschaften 97:133–141

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Plath M, Schlupp I (2010c) Toxic hydrogen sulfide and dark caves: life-history adaptations in a livebearing fish (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae). Ecology 91:1494–1505

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Plath M, Schlupp I (2011a) Toxic hydrogen sulphide and dark caves: pronounced male life-history divergence among locally adapted Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae). J Evol Biol 24:596–606

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Schlupp I, Langerhans RB, Plath M (2011b) Shared and unique patterns of embryo development in extremophile poeciliids. PLoS One 6:e27377

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riesch R, Schlupp I, Schleucher E, Hildenbrand P, Köhler A, Arias-Rodriguez L, Plath M (2011c) Reduced starvation resistance and increased metabolic rates in an unusual cave organism: the cave molly (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae). Bull Fish Biol 13:41–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Roach KA, Tobler M, Winemiller KO (2011) Hydrogen sulfide, bacteria, and fish: a unique, subterranean food chain. Ecology 92:2056–2062

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rollinson N, Hutchings JA (2013a) The relationship between offspring size and fitness: integrating theory and empiricism. Ecology 94:315–324

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rollinson N, Hutchings JA (2013b) Environmental quality predicts optimal egg size in the wild. Am Nat 182:76–90

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosales Lagarde L (2012) Investigations of karst brackish-sulfidic springs and their role in sulfidic springs and their hydrogeology, subsurface water-rock interactions, and speleogenesis at the northern Sierra de Chiapas, Mexico. PhD dissertation, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblatt RH, Cohen DM (1986) Fishes living in deepsea thermal vents in the tropical eastern Pacific, with descriptions of a new genus and two new species of eelpouts (Zoarcidae). Trans San Diego Soc Nat Hist 21:71–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoonen MAA, Barnes HL (1988) An approximation of the second dissociation constant for H2S. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 52:649–654

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seghers BH (1974) Geographic variation in the responses of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to aerial predators. Oecologia 14:93–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Servedio MR (2007) Male versus female mate choice: sexual selection and the evolution of species recognition via reinforcement. Evolution 61:2772–2789

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shahak Y, Hauska G (2008) Sulfide oxidation from cyanobacteria to humans: sulfide-quinone oxidoreductase (SQR). In: Hell R, Dahl C, Knaff DB, Leustek T (eds) Advances in photosynthesis and respiration. Springer, Berlin, pp 319–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith CC, Fretwell SD (1974) The optimal balance between size and number of offspring. Am Nat 108:499–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Steindachner F (1863) Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Sciaenoiden Brasiliens und der Cyprinodonten Mejicos. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissen-schaftlichen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 48:162–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Stipanuk MH (2004) Sulfur amino acid metabolism: pathways for production and removal of homocysteine amd cysteine. Annu Rev Nutr 24:539–577

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stipanuk MH, Ueki I (2011) Dealing with methionine/homocysteine sulfur: cysteine metabolism to taurine and inorganic sulfur. J Inherit Metab Dis 34:17–32

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Szabó C (2007) Hydrogen sulphide and its therapeutic potential. Nat Rev Drug Discov 6:917–935

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Teimori A (2013) The evolutionary history and taxonomy of Aphanius (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae) species in Iran and the Persian Gulf region. Doctoral dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich

    Google Scholar 

  • Templeton CN, Shriner WM (2004) Multiple selection pressures influence Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) antipredator behavior. Behav Ecol 15:673–678

    Google Scholar 

  • Theissen U, Hoffmeister M, Grieshaber M, Martin W (2003) Single eubacterial origin of eukaryotic sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase, a mitochondrial enzyme conserved from the early evolution of eukaryotes during anoxic and sulfidic times. Mol Biol Evol 20:1564–1574

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M (2008) Divergence in trophic ecology characterizes colonization of extreme habitats. Biol J Linn Soc 95:517–528

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Hastings L (2011) Convergent patterns of body shape differentiation in four different clades of poeciliid fishes inhabiting sulfide springs. Evol Biol 38:412–421

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Plath M (2009a) Threatened fishes of the world: Gambusia eurystoma Miller, 1975 (Poeciliidae). Environ Biol Fish 85:251

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Plath M (2009b) Threatened fishes of the world: Poecilia sulphuraria (Alvarez, 1948) (Poeciliidae). Environ Biol Fish 85:333–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Plath M (2011) Living in extreme environments. In: Evans JP, Pilastro A, Schlupp I (eds) Ecology and evolution of poeciliid fishes. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, pp 120–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Schlupp I, Heubel K, Riesch R, García de León FJ, Giere O, Plath M (2006) Life on the edge: hydrogen sulfide and the fish communities of a Mexican cave and surrounding waters. Extremophiles 10:577–585

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Schlupp I, García de León FJ, Glaubrecht M, Plath M (2007) Extreme habitats as refuge from parasite infections? Evidence from an extremophile fish. Acta Oecol 31:270–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, DeWitt TJ, Schlupp I, García de León FJ, Herrmann R, Feulner PGD, Tiedemann R, Plath M (2008a) Toxic hydrogen sulfide and dark caves: phenotypic and genetic divergence across two abiotic environmental gradients in Poecilia mexicana. Evolution 62:2643–2659

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Riesch R, García de León F, Schlupp I, Plath M (2008b) A new and morphologically distinct population of cavernicolous Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae: Teleostei). Environ Biol Fish 82:101–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Riesch R, García de León FJ, Schlupp I, Plath M (2008c) Two endemic and endangered fishes, Poecilia sulphuraria (Alvarez, 1948) and Gambusia eurystoma Miller, 1975 (Poeciliidae, Teleostei) as only survivors in a small sulphidic habitat. J Fish Biol 72:523–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Riesch R, Tobler CM, Plath M (2009a) Compensatory behaviour in response to sulphide-induced hypoxia affects time budgets, feeding efficiency, and predation risk. Evol Ecol Res 11:935–948

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Riesch R, Tobler CM, Schulz-Mirbach T, Plath M (2009b) Natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintains differentiation among micro-allopatric populations. J Evol Biol 22:2298–2304

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Palacios M, Chapman LJ, Mitrofanov I, Bierbach D, Plath M, Arias-Rodriguez L, García de León FJ, Mateos M (2011) Evolution in extreme environments: replicated phenotypic differentiation in livebearing fish inhabiting sulfidic springs. Evolution 65:2213–2228

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Henpita C, Bassett B, Kelley JL, Shaw J (2014a) H2S exposure elicits differential expression of candidate genes in fish from sulfidic and non-sulfidic environments. Comp Biochem Physiol A 175:7–14

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tobler M, Plath M, Riesch R, Schlupp I, Grasse A, Munimanda GK, Setzer C, Penn DJ, Moodley Y (2014b) Selection from parasites favors immunogenetic diversity but not divergence among locally adapted host populations. J Evol Biol 27:960–974

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tunnicliffe V, Barross JA, Gebruk AV, Giere O, Holland ME, Koschinsky A, Reysenbach A-L, Shank TM, Summitt AM (2003) Group report: what are the interactions between biotic processes at vents and physical, chemical, and geological conditions? In: Halbach P, Tunnicliffe V, Hein J (eds) Energy and mass transfer in marine hydrothermal systems. Dahlem University Press, Berlin, pp 250–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Tunnicliffe V, Koop BF, Tyler J, So S (2010) Flatfish at seamount hydrothermal vents show strong genetic divergence between volcanic arcs. Mar Ecol 31:158–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Tunnicliffe V, Tyler J, Dower JF (2013) Population ecology of the tonguefish Symphurus thermophilus (Pisces; Pleuronectiformes; Cynoglossidae) at sulphur-rich hydrothermal vents on volcanoes of the northern Mariana Arc. Deep Sea Res II Top Stud Oceanogr 92:172–182

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) (2013) ECOTOX database. http://cfpub.epa.gov/ecotox/. Consulted on 23 Sept 2013

  • Van Dover CL (2000) The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrijenhoek RC, Duhaime M, Jones WJ (2007) Subtype variation among bacterial endosymbionts of tubeworms (Annelida: Siboglinidae) from the Gulf of California. Biol Bull 212:180–184

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller KO (1989) Development of dermal lip protuberances for aquatic surface respiration in South American characid fishes. Copeia 1989:382–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller KO, Leslie M, Roche R (1990) Phenotypic variation in male guppies from natural inland populations: an additional test of Haskins’ sexual selection/predation hypthesis. Environ Biol Fishes 29:173–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff T (2005) Composition and endemism of the deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. Cah Biol Mar 46:97–104

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the American Livebearers Association, the Erwin Riesch-Stiftung, the Freunde und Förderer der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Ichthyological Society (GfI), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Herrmann Willkomm-Stiftung, the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation of the USA (NSF, IOS-1121832), and the Swiss National Science Foundation for financial support over many years. Our research was only possible due to the collaborative support and substantial help rendered by L Arias-Rodriguez and JR Indy (Villahermosa), FJ Garcia-Léon (La Paz), I Schlupp (Oklahoma), as well as a large number of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers that have circled through our labs.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

    Rüdiger Riesch

  2. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 116 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Michael Tobler

  3. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, PR China

    Martin Plath

Authors
  1. Rüdiger Riesch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Tobler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Martin Plath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rüdiger Riesch .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom

    Rüdiger Riesch

  2. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA

    Michael Tobler

  3. Sino-German Animal Research Center, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China, Evolutionary Ecology Group, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt a.M., Germany

    Martin Plath

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Riesch, R., Tobler, M., Plath, M. (2015). Hydrogen Sulfide-Toxic Habitats. In: Riesch, R., Tobler, M., Plath, M. (eds) Extremophile Fishes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13362-1_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation