Meeting Abstract

P2.65  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30  An evo-devo study of evolutionary novelties: the origin of the seahorse tail EDELSTEIN, LW*; JONES, AG; Texas A&M University; Texas A&M University ledelstein@bio.tamu.edu

Studies investigating evolutionary novelties shed light on the developmental and evolutionary origins of intriguing morphological innovations. Most bony fish rely on their muscular tail as a source of power for locomotion, but seahorses have a novel prehensile tail that lacks a caudal fin and allows for grasping the substrate. This morphological innovation is not present in most other syngnathids (e.g. pipefish and seadragons), raising evolutionary questions as to how the unique seahorse tail arose from a common ancestor lacking a prehensile tail. Moreover, the development of the prehensile tail during embryonic gestation within the father’s pouch makes it an ideal trait to study in order to answer questions as to how novel traits arise. My research investigates the development of syngnathid tails, both the prehensile tail in seahorses and the more typical teleost tail of the pipefish. I am conducting a morphological developmental time series throughout the duration of male pregnancies in both a seahorse species, Hippocampus zosterae, and a pipefish species Syngnathus scovelli. I will also use next-generation RNA sequencing technology to investigate differential gene expression and identify candidate genes involved in syngnathid tail development at the same developmental stages as the morphology series. This will identify both the intraspecific and interspecific changes in gene expression during syngnathid tail development, thereby shedding light on how the evolutionary novelty of the seahorse prehensile tail evolved.