[Coral-List] Subject: Unknown morphological variation in Caribbean

Lad Akins Lad at REEF.org
Tue Feb 22 08:38:07 EST 2011


HI All,

Regarding the lionfish tentacle questions,

See 
Phenotypic variation of lionfish supraocular tentacles
James A. Morris Jr. & D. Wilson Freshwater
Environ Biol Fish
DOI 10.1007/s10641-007-9326-2

For those who don't have access, the observed differences in tentacles are
due to ontogenetic progression with juvenile lionfish having long straight
tentacles, maturing into tentacles with a feather-like terminal appendage
(some with a spot or two) and eventually breaking off.  We have observed
many instances in our collections and observations of tentacles half broken
or breaking off.

Hope this helps,

Lad

************************
Lad Akins
Director of Special Projects
REEF
P O Box 246
Key Largo  FL  33037
www.REEF.org
(305) 852-0030 work
(305) 942-7333 cell
Lad at REEF.org

-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Linda @ ECOMAR
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 2:35 PM
To: Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] Subject: Unknown morphological variation in Caribbean

We noticed this as well in the thousands of lionfish we sampled as part of
our monthly lionfish tournaments from May through Nov 2010.  We recorded the
presence or absence of "eyestalks", and noted that the eyestalks were absent
on larger specimens.  When cleaning larger lionfish we also noted that
"sharp horns" seem to replace the fleshy eyestalks.  These eyestalks also
have difference characteristics/coloration patterns.  Can one the lionfish
experts shed light on the different physical characteristics of young and
old and if these difference can be used in species ID?

 

Best regards from Belize,

 

Linda Searle

ECOMAR

17 Princess Margaret Drive L/F

PO Box 1234

Belize City, Belize

TEL: (501) 671-3483

email: linda at ecomarbelize.org

 

Message: 2

Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:12:50 -0400

From: Mark J A Vermeij <vermeij at hawaii.edu>

Subject: [Coral-List] Unknown morphological variation in Caribbean

      lionfish?

To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov

Message-ID: <fc23dad9609a5.4d5e7e62 at hawaii.edu>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

 

  Dear all 

 

Lionfish found on Curacao seem to come in two morphs: one has a "horn"
immediately above its eyes whereas the other morph lacks this
characteristic. Carmabi would welcome any insights in this matter and
wonders if the different morphologies correspond to the Pterois volitans and
P. miles phenotypes.

  Any suggestions and insights are welcomed: m.vermeij at carmabi.org This
e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled
to view it

  Click on the link (on the left)  for pictures that illustrate the
morphological differences on the website of Carmabi's research station
website: http://www.researchstationcarmabi.org/

 

  Tropical regards

 

Mark

__________________________________

Dr. M.J.A. Vermeij

Science Director

Carmabi Foundation

Piscaderabaai z/n

Cura?ao, Netherlands Antilles

Phone: +5999-5103067

Email: m.vermeij at carmabi.org

Skype: markvermeij

Web:http://www.researchstationcarmabi.org/

 

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics  IBED University of
Amsterdam Science Park 700

1098 XH Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Web: http://www.science.uva.nl/ibed/home.cfm

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list




More information about the Coral-List mailing list