Synopsis
A brief description of the early development of ruff, Gymnocephalus cernuus, Balon's ruff,G. baloni, and yellow pope,G. schraetser, is presented. Developmental steps and thresholds, as well as patterns in the development of the threeGymnocephalus species, are discussed with regard to saltatory ontogeny and alprehost theory. Most of the patterns in all threeGymnocephalus species were found to be very similar to each other, and a new model of speciation for the genusGymnocephalus is proposed. The hypothesis that the subgenusGymnocephalus (G. schraetser andG. acerinus) has been evolving precocially and the subgenusAcerina (G. cernuus andG. baloni) altricially is based on the following patterns: (1) embryos and larvae of yellow pope grow and develop faster than those of ruff and Balon's ruff; (2) yellow pope females become mature when older and larger, (3) relative fecundity in yellow pope is considerably lower, (4) eggs of yellow pope are larger, containing a greater amount of yolk, and (5) typical elongation of the snout (preorbital distance) in yellow pope seems to be a deviation from the ancestral state. Several patterns of development in the precocial form (body depth, head depth and shape of mouth) indicate that juvenilisation (paedomorphosis) may have played an important role in the divergence of these subgenera.
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Kováč, V. Early ontogeny of threeGymnocephalus species (Pisces: Percidae): reflections on the evolution of the genus. Environ Biol Fish 40, 241–253 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00002511
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00002511