Fish & Scripts
In this webinar, our research visitor, Yi-Kai Tea, dives into the lesser known mesophotic coral reefs, shares new findings about the fishy business there and the diversity of flamboyant fairy wrasses.
The talk explores general themes in coral reefs, new species discoveries, hybridization in the marine angelfishes, and culminating in a case study on the systematics of the fairy wrasses (genus Cirrhilabrus), arguably one of the most successful of the extant wrasse lineages (Teleostei: Labridae). We use a phylogenomic approach to uncover the evolutionary history and patterns of temporal and spatial diversification of the fairy wrasses. Our relaxed-clock dating analysis indicates that the major divergences within the genus occurred around the Miocene–Pliocene boundary, and our biogeographic reconstruction suggests that the fairy wrasses emerged within the Coral Triangle, with episodic fluctuations of sea levels during glacial cycles coinciding with shallow divergence events but providing few opportunities for more widespread dispersal. This study provides insight into the wider application of systematics in understanding key processes that have shaped the evolutionary trajectory of contemporary coral reef taxa.
About the Speaker
Yi-Kai Tea is a final year systematic ichthyology PhD student currently based at the University of Sydney. He is also a research affiliate at the Australian Museum Research Institute. His research primarily focuses on the systematics and evolution of labrid fishes (the wrasses). He has described close to two dozen new species of fishes, with several of his research outputs covered by high profile media outlets like the New York Times and Forbes.
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Photo credits: Images of the marine angelfish and the fairy wrasses by Yi-Kai Tea
