Extreme Enlargement of the Cerebellum in a Clade of Teleost Fishes that Evolved a Novel Active Sensory System

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Brains, and the distinct regions that make up brains, vary widely in size across vertebrates [1, 2]. Two prominent hypotheses have been proposed to explain brain region scaling evolution. The mosaic hypothesis proposes that changes in the relative sizes of particular brain regions are the result of selection acting independently on those regions [2, 3]. The concerted hypothesis proposes that the brain evolves as a coordinated structure due to developmental constraints [4]. These hypotheses have been widely debated [3-7], and recent studies suggest a combination of the two best describes vertebrate brain region scaling [8-10]. However, no study has addressed how the mosaic and concerted models relate to the evolution of novel behavioral phenotypes. We addressed this question using African mormyroid fishes. The mormyroids have evolved a novel active electrosensory system and are well known for having extreme encephalization [11] and a large cerebellum [2, 12], which is cited as a possible example of mosaic evolution [2]. We found that compared to outgroups without active electrosensing, mormyroids experienced mosaic increases in the sizes of the cerebellum and hindbrain, and mosaic decreases in the sizes of the telencephalon, optic tectum, and olfactory bulb. However, the evolution of extreme encephalization within mormyroids was associated with concerted changes in the sizes of all brain regions. This suggests that mosaic evolutionary change in the regional composition of the brain is most likely to occur alongside the evolution of novel behavioral functions, but not with the evolution of extreme encephalization.