Meeting Abstract

60.5  Saturday, Jan. 5  Plasticity of feeding mechanisms in marine teleost fishes TURINGAN, R.G.; Florida Institute of Technology turingan@fit.edu

The mechanisms that underlie variation in feeding phenotypes within populations of marine fishes are less understood relative to freshwater fish populations. This study examines the existence of variation in trophic morphology within populations of marine teleost fishes and using one of these populations, tests the hypothesis that variation in trophic morphology is induced by durophagy. In at least three families of marine teleost fishes, individuals that consume predominantly hard prey, such as hard-shelled mollusks and decopod crustaceans have more hypertrophied feeding bones and muscles, as well as higher mechanical advantage of jaw bones relative to their conspecifics that eat soft-bodied prey, such as polychaetes. A common garden experiment confirmed that hypertrophy of the feeding bones and muscles during development, is induced by durophagy. These results, along with a meta-analysis of trophic-morphological variation within populations of marine teleost fishes are discussed in light of the hypothesis that phenotypic plasticity plays a role in the generation and maintenance of phenotypic diversity in fishes.