Hagfishes (Myxinidae), a family of jawless marine pre-vertebrates, hold a unique evolutionary position, sharing a joint ancestor with the entire vertebrate lineage. They are thought to fulfil primarily the ecological niche of scavengers in the deep ocean. However, we present new footage from baited video cameras that captured images of hagfishes actively preying on other fish. Video images also revealed that hagfishes are able to choke their would-be predators with gill-clogging slime. This is the first time that predatory behaviour has been witnessed in this family, and also demonstrates the instantaneous effectiveness of hagfish slime to deter fish predators. These observations suggest that the functional adaptations and ecological role of hagfishes, past and present, might be far more diverse than previously assumed. We propose that the enduring success of this oldest extant family of fishes over 300 million years could largely be due to their unique combination of functional traits.
A recent phylogenetic analysis of the Myxinidae based on the 16S rRNA gene resulted in synonymization of Paramyxine with Eptatretus. This created homonymy of Paramyxine fernholmi with Eptatretus fernholmi and Paramyxine wisneri with Eptatretus wisneri. In order to resolve this nomenclatural dilemma, we made a more extensive phylogenetic assessment of the Myxinidae and examined the nomenclature of the family. We used 75 sequences (37 of which new for this study) of a 561 bp fragment of the 16S rRNA gene, representing 33 species, and 72 sequences (37 of which new for this study) of a 687 bp fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene, representing 23 species, to reconstruct the phylogeny of Myxinidae. The monophyly of the subfamily Myxininae, traditionally characterized by having a single pair of external gill openings, was rejected (0.50 Bayesian posterior probability) by the 16S analysis, but supported by the COI and combined COI+16S analyses (0.99 and 0.81 Bpp, respectively). The monophyly of the subfamily Eptatretinae, characterized by having several pairs of external gill openings, was not supported by the 16S analysis and rejected by the COI and combined COI+16S analysis due to the placement of Eptatretus lopheliae as the earliest branch of Myxinidae (0.71 and 0.57 Bpp, respectively). Eptatretus lopheliae and Eptatretus rubicundus formed a monophyletic group and were allocated to a new genus, Rubicundus, characterized by the presence of an elongated tubular nostril and reddish coloration. A new monotypic subfamily, Rubicundinae, was proposed for Rubicundus. The synonymy of the genera Paramyxine and Quadratus with Eptatretus was confirmed. E. fernholmi is renamed Eptatretus luzonicus. Eptatretus wisneri was renamed Eptatretus bobwisneri. Petromyzon cirrhatus Forster, 1801, Homea banksii Fleming, 1822, and Bdellostoma forsteri Müller, 1836 are synonyms, but no type specimens are known to exist. Petromyzon cirrhatus was designated as type species of Eptatretus, conserving present usage. Gastrobranchus dombeyi Shaw, 1804 has priority over other names for Chilean myxinids. Bdellostoma stoutii was designated as type species of Polistotrema Gill. The validity of the Western Atlantic Myxine limosa as distinct from the Eastern Atlantic Myxine glutinosa was confirmed.
BackgroundContinental slopes are among the steepest environmental gradients on earth. However, they still lack finer quantification and characterisation of their faunal diversity patterns for many parts of the world.Methodology/Principal FindingsChanges in fish community structure and diversity along a depth gradient from 50 to 1200 m were studied from replicated stereo baited remote underwater video deployments within each of seven depth zones at three locations in north-eastern New Zealand. Strong, but gradual turnover in the identities of species and community structure was observed with increasing depth. Species richness peaked in shallow depths, followed by a decrease beyond 100 m to a stable average value from 700 to 1200 m. Evenness increased to 700 m depth, followed by a decrease to 1200 m. Average taxonomic distinctness △+ response was unimodal with a peak at 300 m. The variation in taxonomic distinctness Λ+ first decreased sharply from 50 to 300 m, then increased beyond 500 m depth, indicating that species from deep samples belonged to more distant taxonomic groups than those from shallow samples. Fishes with northern distributions progressively decreased in their proportional representation with depth whereas those with widespread distributions increased.Conclusions/SignificanceThis study provides the first characterization of diversity patterns for bait-attracted fish species on continental slopes in New Zealand and is an imperative primary step towards development of explanatory and predictive ecological models, as well as being fundamental for the implementation of efficient management and conservation strategies for fishery resources.
Changes in biodiversity with latitude or along a given environmental gradient have been described in many studies, including for marine ecosystems. Currently there is no scientific consensus, however, regarding macroecological patterns of diversity vs depth. Here, we describe variation in the biodiversity of fishes along a depth gradient from 0 to 2000 m in the region of the Norfolk Ridge and Lord Howe Rise (Western Pacific), using data obtained during the NORFANZ voyage. We modelled α diversity (richness), β diversity (using Jaccard's coefficient), evenness, taxonomic distinctness and taxonomic resemblances among fish communities. Although α diversity did not change appreciably with depth, β diversity decreased significantly in deeper strata. Both taxonomic resemblances and Jaccard similarities diminished with depth, indicating convergence in community structure. In addition, average taxonomic distinctness showed no clear pattern with depth, but taxonomic trees constructed among species within deeper samples had more variable path‐lengths than those in shallower samples. The presence of taxonomically distinct clusters of highly related species at depth indicates specialised niches that have developed in a relatively extreme (dark, pressurized) yet stable environment. We propose that reduced β diversity and increased variation in taxonomic distinctness might serve as indicators of ecological communities living in harsh environments – a hypothesis that should be tested in other systems, such as deserts, high altitudes or latitudes.
Marine ecosystems are difficult to sample quantitatively at increasing depth. Hence, few studies attempt to measure patterns of beta diversity for ecological communities in the deep sea. Here we (i) present and quantify large-scale gradients in fish community structure along depth and latitude gradients of the New Zealand EEZ, (ii) obtain rigorous quantitative estimates of these depth (50–1200 m) and latitudinal effects (29.15–50.91°S) and their interaction, and (iii) explicitly model how latitudinal beta diversity of fishes varies with depth. The sampling design was highly structured, replicated and stratified for latitude and depth, using data obtained from 345 standardised baited remote underwater stereo-video deployments. Results showed that gradients in fish community structure along depth and latitude were strong and interactive in New Zealand waters; latitudinal variation in fish communities progressively decreased with depth following an exponential decay (r 2 = 0.96), revealing increasingly similar fish communities with increasing depth. In contrast, variation in fish community structure along the depth gradient was of a similar magnitude across all of the latitudes investigated here. We conclude that an exponential decay in beta diversity vs depth exists for fish communities present in areas shallower than the New Zealand upper continental slope.
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