Is the duration of the metamorphosis a useful feature for phylogenetic reconstruction in flatfishes [Teleostei: Pleuronectiformes] ?

By Cyril - Posted on 17 April 2014

Title	Is the duration of the metamorphosis a useful feature for phylogenetic reconstruction in flatfishes [Teleostei: Pleuronectiformes] ?
Publication Type	Miscellaneous
Year of Publication	2001
Authors	Wagemans F, Chanet B
Abstract	This work is an attempt to use ontogenetic data to try to resolve the problem of interrelationships between flatfish families. The duration of the metamorphosis among Pleuronectiformes has been studied in a phylogenetic perspective. Two character-states - short duration metamorphosis (a few days) and long duration metamorphosis (a few weeks) - have been defined and their occurrences within flatfishes have been studied in reference to previous works. Most of the flatfishes present a long metamorphosis, but the flatfishes of the bothid family and the Soleidae-Cynoglossidae clade possess a short metamorphosis. Is this feature a new synapomorphy for the two latter families ? Is the presence of such a metamorphosis between this clade and the bothid family solely a convergence ? It might be, but the characteristics of the metamorphosis are unknown for many flatfish species. More work is needed to confirm these results.