Maile Alex J, Smith W Leo, Davis Matthew P
Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America.
Department of Biology & Chemistry, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 May 2;20(5):e0322369. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322369. eCollection 2025.
The anglerfishes and allies (Lophioidei) are a diverse group of fishes with over 400 carnivorous species that are renowned for their remarkable hunting behavior employing a modified first dorsal-fin spine to lure prey and adaptations such as "pseudo-walking," bioluminescence, and parasitic sexual dimorphism. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of their evolutionary history has been challenging, as previous studies using DNA sequence data or morphological traits have provided either inconsistent or contradictory results. We present a new comprehensive phylogenetic framework for the evolution of the Lophioidei, combining ultraconserved elements (UCEs), mitochondrial DNA sequence data, and morphological characters. Our findings reveal a monophyletic Lophioidei, positioned as the sister group to the Tetraodontoidei within a broader acanthuriform radiation. Goosefishes (Lophioideo) emerge as the stem anglerfish lineage, forming a sister clade with frogfishes (Antennarioideo) + batfishes (Ogcocephaloideo) and coffinfishes (Chaunacoideo) + deep-sea anglerfishes (Ceratioideo). We expanded the Antennariidae to include all previous frogfish (antennarioid) families as subfamilies while proposing a new subfamily, Fowlerichthyinae, to produce a stable monophyletic taxonomy for the Antennarioideo. Further, we evaluated previously and newly proposed morphological characters to diagnose the Lophioidei and Lophioideo. Our investigations demonstrated that several traditional synapomorphies are no longer diagnostic for the Lophioidei. Based on our phylogeny, a geometric morphometric analysis revealed significant differences in body shape among lophioid infraorders, especially in frogfishes and deep-sea anglerfishes, indicating the importance of habitat transitions on body-shape evolution. This study, integrating genome-scale nuclear, mitochondrial, and morphological data, provides a total-evidence perspective on the evolutionary history of lophioids and sheds light on their specializations and body-shape changes as they transitioned across and within environments.
鮟鱇鱼及其近缘种类（躄鱼亚目）是一群多样化的鱼类，有400多种肉食性物种，以其非凡的捕食行为而闻名，它们利用经过改良的第一背鳍棘来引诱猎物，还具有诸如“假行走”、生物发光和寄生性两性异形等适应性特征。全面了解它们的进化历史一直具有挑战性，因为先前使用DNA序列数据或形态特征的研究得出的结果要么不一致，要么相互矛盾。我们提出了一个关于躄鱼亚目进化的新的综合系统发育框架，结合了超保守元件（UCEs）、线粒体DNA序列数据和形态特征。我们的研究结果揭示了一个单系的躄鱼亚目，在更广泛的刺尾鱼形辐射中，它是四齿鲀亚目的姐妹群。海鲇鱼（躄鱼科）是鮟鱇鱼谱系的基部类群，与襞鱼（蝙蝠鱼科）+蝙蝠鱼（蝙蝠鱼亚目）以及棺材鱼（梦鮟科）+深海鮟鱇鱼（角鮟鱇亚目）形成姐妹分支。我们将躄鱼科扩大到包括所有以前的襞鱼（躄鱼形）科作为亚科，同时提出一个新的亚科——福勒氏躄鱼亚科，以便为躄鱼亚目建立一个稳定的单系分类法。此外，我们评估了先前和新提出的形态特征，以诊断躄鱼亚目和躄鱼科。我们的研究表明，一些传统的共有衍征不再能用于诊断躄鱼亚目。基于我们的系统发育，几何形态测量分析揭示了躄鱼亚目下不同类群之间在体型上存在显著差异，特别是在襞鱼和深海鮟鱇鱼中，这表明栖息地转变对体型进化的重要性。这项研究整合了基因组规模的核基因、线粒体基因和形态数据，为躄鱼的进化历史提供了一个全证据视角，并揭示了它们在跨越和处于不同环境时的特化和体型变化。
