Abigail Radunz
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Matthew Kolmann
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Museum of Paleontology / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 4 – 2:40pm – 3:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Abigail Radunz, Matthew Kolmann
Presenter: 16
Abstract
Air-breathing fishes (anabantarians) emerged during the Late Cretaceous (80-100 million years before present mya) and still persist in some of the warmest and most oxygen-deprived aquatic environments on the planet in Asia and Africa. They are able to survive in these extreme habitats, in part because of the labyrinth organ, a lung-like, air-breathing structure, that resides within their skulls. Research involving this unique group of air-breathing fishes has been sparse, especially regarding how the strange labyrinth organ has affected body shape throughout time and across different species. Through the use of 2D x-rays, we analyzed the anatomical structures across all Anabantarian families (i.e., Anabantidae, Badidae, Osphronemidae). We then quantified intraspecific patterns of integration in body shape among these air-breathing fishes using geometric morphometrics in the pursuit of answering our questions of how patterns of body shape integration have changed within/across this group of fishes. We also asked whether patterns of intra- and inter-specific integration are correlated, especially with the presence of the labyrinth organ. We hypothesized that, since developmentally integrated features evolve as coordinated units, we would expect air-breathing fishes to have more tightly integrated skeletons. Through this study, we clarified the intraspecific patterns of integration in body shape among air-breathing fishes and answered longstanding questions as to how the presence of the unique labyrinth organ in the skull has played a part in the evolution of this group.
Engineering, Social Sciences
