Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:59:39.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A new colour morph for Elacatinus figaro, an endemic threatened cleaner

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2015

R.M. Dias*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/Museu Nacional, Setor de Ictiologia, ‘Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, CEP 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
D.F. Almeida
Affiliation:
Departamento de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/Museu Nacional, Setor de Ictiologia, ‘Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, CEP 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
R. Noguchi
Affiliation:
Departamento de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/Museu Nacional, Setor de Ictiologia, ‘Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, CEP 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
S.M.Q. Lima
Affiliation:
Departamento de Botânica e Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Avenida Senador Salgado Filho, 3000, Lagoa Nova, CEP 59078-970, Natal, RN, Brazil
C. Corrêa
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Laboratório de Ecologia de Peixes, IB/DBA, BR 465, Km 7, CEP 23890-000, Seropédica, RJ, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: R.M. Dias, Departamento de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/Museu Nacional, Setor de Ictiologia, Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, CEP 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

We report here, for the first time, the existence of a white colour morph Elacatinus figaro, an endemic threatened cleaner goby from the Brazilian Coast. The specimen from this study lived in a cleaning station along with other E. figaro. Records were made based on pictures and the specimen was collected and preserved for genetic studies. Although the strong bright yellow colour is of vital importance for attracting other fish to the cleaning station, we speculate that living alongside regular-coloured individuals can diminish the disadvantage of not having the flashy stripe.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Colin, P.L. (1982) Melanism in the Rock Beauty, Holacanthus tricolor, (Pisces: Pomacanthidae) in Puerto Rico. Bulletin of Marine Science 32, 800802.Google Scholar
Colin, P.L. (2003) Larvae retention: genes or oceanography? Science 300, 1657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colin, P.L. (2010) Fishes as living tracers of connectivity in the tropical western North Atlantic: I. Distribution of the neon gobies, genus Elacatinus (Pisces: Gobiidae). Zootaxa 2370, 3652.Google Scholar
DeMartini, E.E. and Donaldson, T.J. (1996) Color morph-habitat relations in the Arc-Eye Hawkfish Paracirrithes arcatus (Pisces: Cirrhitidae). Copeia 2, 362371.Google Scholar
Eschmeyer, W.N. and Fricke, R. (eds) (2014) Catalog of fishes, electronic version. Available at: http://research.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp (accessed September 2014).Google Scholar
Ginsburg, I. (1938) Two new gobioid fishes of the genus Gobiosoma from Lower California. Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin 1, 5759.Google Scholar
Graves, J.E. and Rosenblatt, R.H. (1980) Genetics relationships of the color morphs of the serranid fish Hyplopectrus unicolor. Evolution 34, 240245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guimarães, R.Z.P. (1999) Chromatic and morphologic variation in Halicampus crinitus (Jenyns) (Teleostei: Syngnatidae) from southeastern Brazil, with comments on its synonymy. Revue Française d'Aquariologie 26, 710.Google Scholar
Goodwin, T.W. (1984) The biochemistry of carotenoids, Vol. 2, Animals. New York: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Lubbock, R. and Edwards, A. (1981) The fishes of St. Paul's Rocks. Journal of Fish Biology 18, 135157.Google Scholar
Luiz-Júnior, O.J. (2003) Colour Morphs in a Queen Angelfish Holacanthus ciliaris (Perciformes: Pomacanthidae) population of St. Paul's Rocks, NE Brazil. Tropical Fish Hobbyist 51, 8290.Google Scholar
Medioni, E., Leconte Finiger, R., Louveiro, N. and Planes, S. (2001) Genetic and demographic variation among colour morphs of cabrilla sea bass. Journal of Fish Biology 58, 11131124.Google Scholar
Palumbi, S.R. and Warner, R.R. (2003) Why Gobies are like hobbits. Science 299, 5152.Google Scholar
Pattengill-Semmens, C.V. (1999) Occurrence of a unique color morph in the smooth trunkfish (Lactophrys triqueter L.) at the Flower Garden Banks and Stetson Bank, Northwest Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 65, 587591.Google Scholar
Pezold, F. (1993) Evidence for a monophyletic Gobiinae. Copeia 3, 634643.Google Scholar
Planes, S. and Doherty, P.J. (1997) Genetic relationships of the color morphs of Acanthochromis polyacanthus (Pomacentridae) in the northern Great Barrier Reef. Marine Biology 130, 109117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, J.E. and Randall, H.A. (1960) Examples of mimicry and protective resemblance in tropical marine fishes. Bulletin of Marine Science 10, 444480.Google Scholar
Sazima, I., Krajewski, J.P., Bonaldo, R.M. and Sazima, C. (2004) Octopus cleaned by two fish species at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic. Coral Reefs 22, 484.Google Scholar
Sazima, I. and Moura, R.L. (2000) The shark Carcharhinus perezi cleaned by the goby Elacatinus randalli at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, western South Atlantic. Copeia 200, 297299.Google Scholar
Sazima, I., Moura, R.L. and Rosa, R.S. (1997) Elacatinus figaro sp. n (Perciformes: Gobiidae), a newcleaner goby from the coast of Brazil. Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 2, 3338.Google Scholar
Sazima, I., Sazima, C., Francini-Filho, R.B. and Moura, R.L. (2000) Daily cleaning activity and diversity of clients of the barber goby, Elacatinus figaro, on rocky reefs in southeastern Brazil. Environmental Biology of Fishes 59, 6977.Google Scholar
Taylor, M.S. and Hellberg, M.E. (2005) Marine radiations at small geographic scales: speciation in neotropical reef gobies (Elacatinus). Evolution 59, 374385.Google ScholarPubMed
Van Tassell, J.L. (2011) Gobiiformes of the Americas. In Patzner, R.A., Van Tassel, J.L., Kovačić, M. and Kapoor, B.G. (eds) The biology of gobies. Enfield, NH: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Science Publishers, pp. 139176.Google Scholar
Warner, R.R. and Palumbi, S.R. (2003) Response. Science 300, 1657.Google Scholar