{"id":75616,"date":"2022-08-05T12:41:17","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T16:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&#038;p=75616"},"modified":"2022-08-08T11:04:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T15:04:44","slug":"silversides-surprising-hybridization","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/silversides-surprising-hybridization\/","title":{"rendered":"Silversides\u2019 Surprising Hybridization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/silverside_research_800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Figure showing salinity and species distribution in the Mar Chiquita Lagoon under variable environmental conditions.\" class=\"img-responsive\" \/><span style=\"font-size:0.86em;\">Salinity and species distribution in the Mar Chiquita Lagoon under variable environmental conditions. Image: Yamila P. Cardoso.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Summary \u2013 Lily C. Hughes, Ph.D., the Museum\u2019s Curator of Ichthyology<\/p>\n<p>In Buenos Aires province, Argentina, the Mar Chiquita Coastal Lagoon is an estuary that has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve due to its rich biodiversity and remarkable geomorphology. Several species of South American silverside fish reside in and around the lagoon, which is saltwater near the mouth to the Atlantic Ocean, and freshwater where it is fed by streams. Scientists used new genomic, but also morphological, ecological and reproductive data to investigate an interesting interaction between a freshwater silverside species (scientific name: <em>Odontesthes bonariensis<\/em>) and a marine species (scientific name: <em>Odontesthes argentinensis<\/em>) inside Mar Chiquita. Fish that appeared to have a mixture of characteristics from both the marine and freshwater species had been documented, but genetic data showed that these fish were hybrids. The genetic data also confirmed that there is a unique population of <em>O. argentinensis<\/em> that is adapting to the Mar Chiquita Lagoon, which it inhabits year-round. Marine and freshwater species do not often have the opportunity to hybridize, but brackish estuaries can bring these species into contact with each other and create interesting population dynamics. These silversides are popular with fishermen throughout their native range.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41437-022-00555-9\">https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41437-022-00555-9<\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"cleardiv\" \/>\n<p>Hughes was pleased to collaborate with scientists in Argentina on this research, who have provided a Spanish-language translation of the above text:<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"es\">Resumen \u2013 Mariano Gonz\u00e1lez-Castro<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"es\">En la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, la Laguna Costera Mar Chiquita es un estuario que ha sido designado como Reserva Mundial de Biosfera por UNESCO, dada su gran biodiversidad y notable geomorfolog\u00eda. Diversas especies de pejerreyes habitan dentro y en los alrededores de dicha laguna, la cual es de agua salada en las cercan\u00edas de su desembocadura al mar y dulceacu\u00edcola en su interior. Cient\u00edficos emplearon nuevos datos gen\u00f3micos, adem\u00e1s de datos morfol\u00f3gicos, ecol\u00f3gicos y reproductivos, para investigar una interesante interacci\u00f3n dentro de Mar Chiquita entre el pejerrey dulceacu\u00edcola (nombre cient\u00edfico: <em>Odontesthes bonariensis<\/em>) y el marino (nombre cient\u00edfico: <em>Odontesthes argentinensis<\/em>). Previamente, se hab\u00edan documentado peces que parec\u00edan tener una mezcla de caracter\u00edsticas de especies marinas y de agua dulce, pero los datos gen\u00e9ticos mostraron que estos peces eran h\u00edbridos. La data gen\u00e9tica confirm\u00f3 adem\u00e1s que existe una poblaci\u00f3n de <em>O. argentinensis<\/em> con caracter\u00edsticas \u00fanicas, la cual se ha adaptado a la Laguna Mar Chiquita, cumpliendo all\u00ed su ciclo de vida. Especies marinas y dulceacu\u00edcolas no tienen usualmente oportunidad de hibridar, pero los estuarios tienen la capacidad de poner dichas especies en contacto, creando din\u00e1micas poblacionales interesantes. Estos pejerreyes son populares entre los pescadores en su \u00e1rea de distribuci\u00f3n nativa.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr class=\"cleardiv\" \/>\n<p><em>For more information about our upcoming activities, conservation news and ground-breaking research, follow @NaturalSciences on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/naturalsciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/naturalsciences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/naturalsciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>. Join the conversation with #visitNCMNS.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":75617,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/75616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/75616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}