The Evolution of Sensory Adaptation in Astyanax mexicanus

Yoshizawa, Masato

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-802148-4.00013-x

Cited by 15 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…There is a plethora of literature on Astyanax cavefish discussing the adaptations that allow them to be very skilful at locating nourishment in an environment where food is often scarce (Espinasa et al 2014;Rétaux and Elipot 2013;Soares and Niemiller 2013;Yoshizawa 2015). Our results confirm that they are indeed excellent hunters, but suggest that, at least in this cave and for this particular stage in their ontogeny, food is not that limiting.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…They then change their diet to more abundant but perhaps less nourishing sources like guano or mud detritus, as well as the opportunistic insect or carcass that may fall in or brought in during the rainy season. The idea that there is a change in the cavefish's diet that reduces their dependence for hunting live prey is supported by the observation that in large, mature adult cavefish (> 6 cm long), superficial neuromasts showed reduced sensitivities compared to those in smaller, younger adults (< 4 cm long), corresponding to a significantly attenuated VAB in large Pachón cavefish (Yoshizawa 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Even in the surface fish that have VAB, the ability to "tune-in" to certain vibration frequencies is absent and they have a broad response range from 5-50 Hz. By contrast, cavefish have a significant peak at 35 Hz brought by changes in the morphology and number of superficial neuromasts within the orbit of the degenerated eye (Yoshizawa 2015). QTL analyses have shown multiple genomic loci for VAB, superficial neuromast number at the eye orbit, and eye size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…QTL analyses have shown multiple genomic loci for VAB, superficial neuromast number at the eye orbit, and eye size. Importantly, the QTL for all three traits overlap each other in two regions of the Astyanax genome (Yoshizawa 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contrasting feeding habits of post-larval and adult Astyanax cavefish

Espinasa¹,

Bonaroti²,

Wong³

et al. 2017

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The subterranean environment is often described as "extreme" and food poor. Laboratory experiments have shown that blind Mexican tetra Astyanax mexicanus (De Filippi, 1853) cavefish are better at finding food in the dark than surface fish. Several morphological and behavioural attributes that could foster this obvious adaptive response to cave environments have been described. Nonetheless, it is currently unknown what young cavefish actually eat in their natural cave environment. Our results from the Pachón cave in México during the dry and rainy season show that fry are efficient predators in their natural cave environment. Their primary food item is aquatic crustaceans. The guts of post-larval, pre-juvenile stage individuals (n=9) contained an average of 17.9 water fleas (Cladocera), copepods, ostracods, and isopods. Thus, the fry in this cave are well-fed. The Pachón cave environment does not appear to be "food poor" for juvenile cavefish. Food regimes change between post-larval and adult stages to become more dependent on partially decomposed material, guano, or detritus from the mud. We discuss the data with regards to our current developmental and genetic understanding of cavefish morphological and behavioural evolution, particularly regarding its enhanced Vibration Attraction Behaviour (VAB).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contrasting feeding habits of post-larval and adult Astyanax cavefish

Espinasa¹,

Bonaroti²,

Wong³

et al. 2017

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“…To solve these two questions, we used an evolutionary model, the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, and developed a novel experimental workflow to assay collective and stereotyped behavior 14 . A. mexicanus is an emerging as a key model system in diverse aspects of evolution and development, including those with relevance to human medicine e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social-like responses are inducible in asocial Mexican cavefish despite the exhibition of strong repetitive behaviour

Iwashita

Yoshizawa

2020

Preprint

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Collective behaviors, such as schooling of fishes and mass migrations of ungulates, are hallmark features of a wide variety of animal species. Such phenotypic characters can be lost, either through evolutionary process across generations or by certain environmental stressors within a generation. Such stressors simultaneously promote stereotypic repetitive behaviors in many mammals, such as those exhibited in certain ex-situ captive settings. However, in asocial species, it is unclear whether social ability is permanently lost or only suppressed. It is also unclear if this antagonistic regulation between repetitive and social behaviors is deeply conserved among vertebrates. An evolutionary model, the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, has a blind cave-dwelling morph lacking collective behaviors but exhibiting repetitive circling. In contrast, the sighted surface riverine morph of A. mexicanus shows more normative behaviors. We here report that social-like interactions are recoverable in blind asocial cavefish under familiar environments but are suppressed under the stress-associated unfamiliar environments. In contrast, surface fish revealed robust social-like behaviors in the dark, regardless of familiarity to the environment. Treatment of a human antipsychotic drug also induced social-like interactions in cavefish even in unfamiliar environments. In addition, the level of repetitive behavior is positively correlated with that of asociality in cavefish, suggesting that the antagonistic regulation between repetitive and social-like behaviors is present in teleost fish. Asocial cavefish therefore, with a deeply conserved framework of behavioral regulation, are still capable of expressing social-like behavior following ca. 200,000 years of adaptation to caves.

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Parallel evolution of regressive and constructive craniofacial traits across distinct populations of Astyanax mexicanus cavefish

2020

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Life in complete darkness has driven the evolution of a suite of troglobitic features in the blind Mexican cavefish Astyanax mexicanus, such as eye and pigmentation loss. While regressive evolution is a hallmark of obligate cave-dwelling organisms, constructive (or augmented) traits commonly arise as well. The cavefish cranium has undergone extensive changes compared with closely-related surface fish. These alterations are rooted in both cranial bones and surrounding sensory tissues such as enhancements in the gustatory and lateral line systems. Cavefish also harbor numerous cranial bone asymmetries: fluctuating asymmetry of individual bones and directional asymmetry in a dorsal bend of the skull. This asymmetry is mirrored by

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The Evolution of Sensory Adaptation in Astyanax mexicanus

Cited by 15 publications

References 87 publications

Contrasting feeding habits of post-larval and adult Astyanax cavefish

Contrasting feeding habits of post-larval and adult Astyanax cavefish

Social-like responses are inducible in asocial Mexican cavefish despite the exhibition of strong repetitive behaviour

Parallel evolution of regressive and constructive craniofacial traits across distinct populations of Astyanax mexicanus cavefish

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