The biogeographic history of eelpouts and related fishes: linking phylogeny, environmental change, and patterns of dispersal in a globally distributed fish group
View ORCID ProfileScott Hotaling, Marek L. Borowiec, Luana S.F. Lins, Thomas Desvignes, Joanna L. Kelley
Scott Hotaling
1School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
ORCID record for Scott Hotaling
Marek L. Borowiec
2Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA
Luana S.F. Lins
3Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Thomas Desvignes
4Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
Joanna L. Kelley
For correspondence: joanna.l.kelley@wsu.edu
Modern genetic data sets present unprecedented opportunities to understand the evolutionary origins of taxonomic groups comprising hundreds to thousands of species. When the timing of key events are known, it is also possible to investigate biogeographic history in the context of major phenomena (e.g., continental drift). In this study, we investigated the biogeographic history of the suborder Zoarcoidei, a globally distributed fish group that includes species inhabiting both poles and multiple taxa that produce antifreeze proteins to survive chronic subfreezing temperatures. We first generated a multi-locus, time-calibrated phylogeny for the group. We then used biogeographic modeling to reconstruct ancestral ranges across the tree and quantify the type and frequency of biogeographic events (e.g., founder, dispersal). With these results, we considered how the cooling of the Southern and Arctic Oceans, which reached their present-day subfreezing temperatures 10-15 million years ago (Mya) and 2-3 Mya, respectively, may have shaped the evolutionary history of Zoarcoidei, with an emphasis on the most speciose and widely distributed family, eelpouts (family Zoarcidae). Our phylogenetic results clarified standing issues in the Zoarcoidei taxonomy and showed that the group began to diversify in the Oligocene ∼31-32 Mya, with the center of origin for all families in north temperate waters. Within-area speciation was the most common biogeographic event in the group's history (80% of all events) followed by dispersal (20%). Finally, we found mixed evidence for polar ocean cooling underpinning Zoarcoidei diversification, with support limited to eelpout speciation in the Southern Ocean over the last 10 million years.
Declarations of Interest: None
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Scott Hotaling, Marek L. Borowiec, Luana S.F. Lins, Thomas Desvignes, Joanna L. Kelley