Foraging tactic as a potential selection pressure influencing geographic differences in body shape among populations of dace (Phoxinus eos)

Abstract

Geographic differences in body shape among 18 populations of northern redbelly dace in three regions of Ontario (Sudbury, Algonquin Provincial Park, and Kingston) were quantified with truss analysis. Principal component analysis of size-adjusted residuals of the trusses revealed that 35.11% of the morphological variation in body shape is explained on principal component I. This axis describes the major trend in body shape variation, ranging from populations in which fish are relatively deep-bodied to those in which fish are more shallow-bodied. Shape variation among populations in Algonquin Park spanned the range observed among all three regions in Ontario. Experiments were thus conducted on two Algonquin populations differing considerably in body shape, and it was found that deeper bodied fish from one population were significantly more adept at capturing evasive prey than were relatively shallow-bodied fish from another population. This finding is not only consistent with functional analysis of fish shape but also fits predictions from foraging theory. Fish catching plentiful but evasive prey should rely on ambush predation, and thus have a large body depth, which increases body area relative to mass, in order to optimize acceleration. Conversely, fish catching less evasive food occurring at low density should use a tactic of wide foraging, for which they need a streamlined anterior body suitable for cruising over extended periods of time. Samples from the natural population revealed that deep-bodied fish had a significantly greater number of evasive prey in their guts, and that the more shallow-bodied fish had relatively few. Furthermore, the pond in which the deeper bodied fish occurred had significantly higher prey density than the pond inhabited by the shallow-bodied fish. Because the Algonquin populations experience sufficient gene flow to prevent differentiation due to drift alone, the most likely explanation for population differentiation resides in selection on body shape for foraging tactic.