Magic Traits in Magic Fish: Understanding Color Pattern Evolution Using Reef Fish

• Published in: Trends in genetics Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 265 - 278
• Main Authors: Salis, Pauline, Lorin, Thibault, Laudet, Vincent, Frédérich, Bruno
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2019; Elsevier
• Subjects: chromatophores; development; ecology; evolution; Genetics; Life Sciences; modularity; pigmentation pattern; pigmentation pattern; ecology; development; chromatophores; modularity; evolution; Development; Evolution; Ecology; Chromatophores; Modularity; Pigmentation pattern
• ISSN: 0168-9525; 1362-4555
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2019.01.006

Color patterns provide easy access to phenotypic diversity and allow the questioning of the adaptive value of traits or the constraints acting on phenotypic evolution. Reef fish offer a unique opportunity to address such questions because they are ecologically and phylogenetically diverse and have the largest variety of pigment cell types known in vertebrates. In addition to recent development of their genetic resources, reef fish also constitute experimental models that allow the discrimination of ecological, developmental, and evolutionary processes at work. Here, we emphasize how the study of color patterns in reef fish can be integrated in an Eco/Evo/Devo (ecological evolutionary developmental) perspective and we illustrate that such an approach can bring new insights on the evolution of complex phenotypes. Organisms live in continuously changing environments. Eco/Evo/Devo aims to uncover the rules that underlie the interactions between the environment, genes, and development of an organism. Color patterns have a clear ecological and behavioral significance, with a wide range of functions in animals and in teleosts in particular. Study of model species such as zebrafish allows the understanding of the developmental mechanisms underlying phenotypic evolution. Changes in expression of key molecular factors coupled with changes in cell–cell interactions can lead to color pattern diversification during evolution. Recent studies about color patterns in reef fishes emphasize the need to address such questions in this group in an Eco/Evo/devo perspective, integrating proximate causation and ultimate causation.