Evolution and assessment of colour patterns in stream‐resident and anadromous male threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus from three regions

• Published in: Journal of fish biology Vol. 94; no. 3; pp. 520 - 525
• Main Authors: Stuckert, Adam M. M., Drury, Sara, Anderson, Christopher M., Bowling, Tyler B. T., Mckinnon, Jeffrey S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2019; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Acuity; adaptive radiation; Alaska; Animals; Biological Evolution; British Columbia; carotenoid; Color; Coloration; Colour; colour evolution; Ecological effects; Ecosystem; Ecotypes; Female; Fish; Freshwater fishes; Gasterosteus aculeatus; Japan; Life History Traits; Male; Males; Pigmentation - genetics; Regions; Rivers; Smegmamorpha - genetics; Swimming; threespine stickleback; Visual acuity; Visual discrimination; Alaska; Japan; British Columbia; carotenoid; colour evolution; adaptive radiation; Gasterosteus aculeatus; threespine stickleback
• ISSN: 0022-1112; 1095-8649
• DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13913

We compared the colour patterns of free swimming, reproductively active male threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus of the anadromous and stream ecotypes from three geographically distinct regions. Consistent with the hypothesis of environmentally mediated selection, our results indicate ecologically replicated differences in G. aculeatus coloration between anadromous and stream‐resident populations, and that G. aculeatus probably have the visual acuity to discriminate colour pattern differences between anadromous and stream‐resident fish.