Branchial musculature of flatfishes

• Grant number: 22/11956-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 09, 2023
• End date: January 08, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Aléssio Datovo da Silva
• Grantee: Paulo Presti Migliavacca
• Supervisor: George David Johnson
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/02232-0 - Musculoskeletal evolution of Flatfishes and their intrarelationships (Teleostei: Percomorphacea: Pleuronectiformes), BP.DR

Abstract

Pleuronectiformes is a fish order with about 800 globally distributed species, arranged in 123 genera and 14 families. Flatfishes, the representatives of the order, present one of the most intriguing known morphological transformations: the ontogenetic migration of one eye towards the opposite side of the body. Most of the previous morphological studies have only addressed the skeleton, whereas the musculature of the pleuronectiforms remains largely unknown. This project proposes to develop a comparative study of the branchial musculoskeletal system, with an emphasis on myology, of representatives of key pleuronectiform lineages. The gill arches are one of the most vital systems in fishes and seem to present several adaptations to their unique lifestyle. The study of the morphology of gill arches of flatfishes is an interesting approach to assessing how their metamorphosis changed their ability in gill ventilation and feeding. Additionally, the entire morphology of taxa unavailable in Brazilian collections will be studied. These efforts will result in a considerable expansion of the final phylogenetic matrix that will be concatenated with molecular data to produce the most extensive phylogenetic review ever made for pleuronectiforms. (AU)