Meristic Variation in the Threespine Stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, in the Matamek River System, Quebec

1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 1155-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Coad ◽  
G. Power
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
River System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Meristic Characters ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
River Sample ◽  
Meristic Variation ◽  
Gill Raker

Samples of threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, from two lakes and a river in the Matamek River system, Québec were analyzed for five meristic characters. Mean vertebral number differed for each area (range 32.00–32.85) but mean soft fin ray number showed little variation (dorsal rays 11.52–11.79, anal rays 8.68–8.76). Gill raker number was higher in the lake samples (21.25 and 21.80) than in the river sample (20.76). In Matamek Lake only semiarmatus plate morphs were found; in Bill Lake, semiarmatus and trachurus morphs in a ratio of 4:1 with about 10% intermediate; and in the lower Matamek River, semiarmatus and, at a low frequency, leiurus morphs.

Multivariate differentiation of parapatric and allopatric populations of threespine stickleback in the Sangan River watershed, Queen Charlotte Islands

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 2944-2951 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Reimchen ◽  
E. M. Stinson ◽  
J. S. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
River System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Geographical Distance ◽  
Marine Waters ◽  
Meristic Characters ◽  
Allopatric Populations ◽  
Queen Charlotte Islands

A discriminant analysis was made of 17 morphometric and 10 meristic characters in the freshwater form (leiurus) of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from 16 localities in the Sangan River System on the Queen Charlotte archipelago and in the presumed ancestral form (trachurus) from a nearby locality in marine waters. While multivariate means were significantly different between trachurus and leiurus, there was even greater differentiation between the leiurus populations found in lakes, ponds, and streams, divergence which was independent of geographical distance between localities. Statistical removal of meristics, removal of body length, log transformation and size standardization of all morphometries did not substantially alter the discrimination of the populations. Two of the leiurus populations that overlap in a narrow zone appear to have achieved reproductive isolation.

Phenotypic Variation in Threespine Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) of the Chignik River System, Alaska

1969 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Narver
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
River System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Caudal Peduncle ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lateral Plates

Four phenotypes of the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, were identified from the two Chignik lakes, Alaska: unplated (2–6 anterior plates); half-plated (7–15 anterior plates); fully plated (18–22 plates) lacustrine; and fully plated (18–22) estuarine. Distinctions lie in number and size of lateral plates and extent of lateral keel development on the caudal peduncle. Composition of the three lacustrine phenotypes in either lake population was similar among the years 1962–64 for both age I and age II in Black Lake but dissimilar in Chignik Lake. The Black Lake population contained a higher proportion of the unplated and half-plated phenotypes but fewer of the fully plated phenotypes than the Chignik Lake population. The life history of the estuarine phenotype is outlined. The mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of the four phenotypes in the Chignik River system have not been determined.

scholarly journals Diversity and sexual dimorphism in the head lateral line system in North Sea populations of threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus (Teleostei: Gasterosteidae)

Zoomorphology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Ahnelt ◽  
David Ramler ◽  
Maria Ø. Madsen ◽  
Lasse F. Jensen ◽  
Sonja Windhager
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Lateral Line ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Lateral Line System ◽  
Line System ◽  
Marine Population ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks

AbstractThe mechanosensory lateral line of fishes is a flow sensing system and supports a number of behaviors, e.g. prey detection, schooling or position holding in water currents. Differences in the neuromast pattern of this sensory system reflect adaptation to divergent ecological constraints. The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is known for its ecological plasticity resulting in three major ecotypes, a marine type, a migrating anadromous type and a resident freshwater type. We provide the first comparative study of the pattern of the head lateral line system of North Sea populations representing these three ecotypes including a brackish spawning population. We found no distinct difference in the pattern of the head lateral line system between the three ecotypes but significant differences in neuromast numbers. The anadromous and the brackish populations had distinctly less neuromasts than their freshwater and marine conspecifics. This difference in neuromast number between marine and anadromous threespine stickleback points to differences in swimming behavior. We also found sexual dimorphism in neuromast number with males having more neuromasts than females in the anadromous, brackish and the freshwater populations. But no such dimorphism occurred in the marine population. Our results suggest that the head lateral line of the three ecotypes is under divergent hydrodynamic constraints. Additionally, sexual dimorphism points to divergent niche partitioning of males and females in the anadromous and freshwater but not in the marine populations. Our findings imply careful sampling as an important prerequisite to discern especially between anadromous and marine threespine sticklebacks.

scholarly journals Genome Characterization, Prevalence, and Transmission Mode of a Novel Picornavirus Associated with the Threespine Stickleback Fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan A. Hahn ◽  
Nolwenn M. Dheilly
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Rna Virus ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Model System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT The complete genome sequence of an RNA virus was assembled from RNA sequencing of virus particles purified from threespine stickleback intestine tissue samples. This new virus is most closely related to the Eel picornavirus and can be assigned to the genus Potamipivirus in the family Picornaviridae. Its unique genetic properties are enough to establish a new species, dubbed the Threespine Stickleback picornavirus (TSPV). Due to their broad geographic distribution throughout the Northern Hemisphere and parallel adaptation to freshwater, threespine sticklebacks have become a model in evolutionary ecology. Further analysis using diagnostic PCRs revealed that TSPV is highly prevalent in both anadromous and freshwater populations of threespine sticklebacks, infects almost all fish tissues, and is transmitted vertically to offspring obtained from in vitro fertilization in laboratory settings. Finally, TSPV was found in Sequence Reads Archives of transcriptome of Gasterosteus aculeatus, further demonstrating its wide distribution and unsought prevalence in samples. It is thus necessary to test the impact of TSPV on the biology of threespine sticklebacks, as this widespread virus could interfere with the behavioral, physiological, or immunological studies that employ this fish as a model system. IMPORTANCE The threespine stickleback species complex is an important model system in ecological and evolutionary studies because of the large number of isolated divergent populations that are experimentally tractable. For similar reasons, its coevolution with the cestode parasite Schistocephalus solidus, its interaction with gut microbes, and the evolution of its immune system are of growing interest. Herein we describe the discovery of an RNA virus that infects both freshwater and anadromous populations of sticklebacks. We show that the virus is transmitted vertically in laboratory settings and found it in Sequence Reads Archives, suggesting that experiments using sticklebacks were conducted in the presence of the virus. This discovery can serve as a reminder that the presence of viruses in wild-caught animals is possible, even when animals appear healthy. Regarding threespine sticklebacks, the impact of Threespine Stickleback picornavirus (TSPV) on the fish biology should be investigated further to ensure that it does not interfere with experimental results.

Meristic variation in beaked redfishes, Sebastes mentella and S. fasciatus, in the Northwest Atlantic

1982 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
pp. 1664-1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-H. Ni
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Meristic Characters ◽  
Northwest Atlantic ◽  
Depth Variation ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
Meristic Variation ◽  
Sebastes Mentella

The distribution of Northwest Atlantic beaked redfishes, Sebastes mentella and S. fasciatus, has been confused for the past several decades. Sebastes fasciatus has been reported as having lower meristic counts than S. mentella. Meristic elements of 33 301 vertebrae, 22 622 anal fin ray, and 16 290 dorsal fin ray counts were utilized to examine the yearly, depth, and geographic variation of meristics in beaked redfishes. Data collected from specimens caught off West Greenland, Baffin Island, Labrador, Newfoundland, Quebec, and Nova Scotia were analyzed by 100-m-depth intervals. Temporal and depth variation were examined by the χ2-test of independence on meristic frequencies. Geographic variation was evaluated using the modes and mean values in the meristic frequency histograms. Cluster analysis of meristic frequencies displayed the dendrographic affinities and the distance matrix among division–depth blocks.Temporal variation indicated a mixture of vertebral frequency patterns which varied with depth and area. Depth variation and geographic clines were found for each of these meristic characters; the shallow and southern waters were dominated by counts of 29, 14–13, and 7 for vertebrae, dorsal fin rays, and anal fin rays, respectively, whereas deep and northern waters were dominated by 30, 15–14, and 8–9. These results suggested that S. fasciatus occurs on the Nova Scotian Shelf and Grand Bank whereas S. mentella is largely found in Baffin Bay, Labrador waters, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The common names of S. mentella and S. fasciatus are discussed. Additionally, five hypothetical stocks of beaked redfishes based on meristic patterns are proposed for management purposes.Key words: Sebastes mentela, S. fasciatus, redfish, meristic variation, distribution, cluster analysis

Meristic Variation in the Threespine Stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, from Auke Lake, Alaska

Copeia ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 1976 (4) ◽  
pp. 811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boyd Kynard ◽  
Kevin Curry
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Meristic Variation

Raiding shoal size and a distraction display in male sticklebacks (Gasterosteus)

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Ridgway ◽  
J. D. McPhail
Keyword(s):  
Nest Predation ◽  
Species Complex ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks

In threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), shoals of foraging conspecifics attack the nests of parental males and consume the offspring. This type of nest predation also occurs in lakes with sympatric species pairs of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus sp.) in which benthic stickleback shoals attack the nests of parental limnetic males. We manipulated shoal size of benthic sticklebacks in Paxton and Enos lakes to determine if there is a minimum shoal size necessary before parental limnetic males will perform the spasmodic swim display, a behaviour used by parental males to lure foraging shoals away from their nest and offspring. Males showed a significant increase in display frequency beginning with shoals of eight fish. The display occurred only when there were offspring in the nest and not when the nest was empty. We interpret the display to be a foraging deception in which parental males manipulate raiding shoals into giving up their search for a food source, causing them to leave the area of the male's nest site. This distraction display appears to be widespread within the threespine stickleback species complex.

OBSERVATIONS ON MERISTIC VARIATION IN NINESPINE STICKLEBACKS, PUNGITIUS PUNGITIUS, REARED AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

1962 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 1237-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Lindsey
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Pungitius Pungitius ◽  
Pectoral Fin ◽  
Vertebral Count ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Meristic Variation ◽  
Pectoral Fin Rays

Eggs of 10 pairs of wild ninespine sticklebacks from Hobson's Brook near Cambridge, England, were reared under various controlled temperatures. Temperature for optimum survival to hatching differed between genotypes. Ninety young were examined for counts of vertebrae, spines, and dorsal, anal, and pectoral fin rays. Survivors at high temperature had markedly more vertebrae than survivors at low. Curves of temperature against vertebral count may be V-shaped for each genotype, and optimum survival temperature may produce lowest vertebral count. More basal supports to the dorsal and anal fins and spines were produced at high temperature. Disruptions in one-to-one serial conformity between ray or spine, basal, and vertebral series became progressively commoner at higher rearing temperatures. Parents showed positive correlation between dorsal and anal fin ray counts and number of caudal scutes. Comparisons are made with Gasterosteus aculeatus.

Meristic variation in the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L., in eastern Canadian waters

1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 547-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. T. Garside ◽  
T. Hamor
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
North America ◽  
Species Complex ◽  
Vertebral Column ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Meristic Variation ◽  
La Madeleine ◽  
Lateral Plates

Samples of threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L., collected from several areas of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and single sites from Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec, and eastern Lake Ontario, were analyzed for variation in numbers of anterior lateral plates and vertebrae. Counts of vertebrae varied from 28 to 35 and mean counts from 30.3 to 33.4, without being related to any obvious geographic gradients. Trunk and caudal segments of the vertebral column had about the same degree of variation. Counts of lateral plates exclusive of ossicles of the caudal keel ranged from 0 to 31 with a range of means from 1.6 to 24.7. Incomplete development of potential plate number and absence of caudal keels were observed in 1st-year individuals. These results are discussed in relation to information about this species complex from populations of Pacific North America and Europe.

Effect of pituitary homotransplants on peripheral target organs in intact threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. form trachurus

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1341-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Leatherland
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Gland ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Peripheral Target ◽  
Partial Regression ◽  
Target Organs ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Anadromous Form

The activity of pituitary homotransplants in the anadromous form (trachurus) of the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. was investigated by examining the structure of the thyroid, interrenal, gonad, and in situ pituitary; the melanophore index was also measured.The thyroid gland was markedly more active and the in situ thyrotrophs more granulated in the recipient fish when compared with the sham-operated animals. Similarly, the interrenal nuclear index was slightly (but significantly) larger in the recipient fish and there was a concomitant partial regression of the in situ pituitary corticotrophs.There was no difference between the structure of the gonads in the two groups although the in situ gonadotrophs were apparently smaller and less well granulated in the recipient fish.The melanophore index was significantly lower in recipient sticklebacks.In situ prolactin-secreting cells, somatotrophs, and neurointermediate lobes were similar in recipient and sham-operated animals.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document