ArticleMolecular ecology2017
Adult plasticity in African cichlids: Rapid changes in opsin expression in response to environmental light differences.
Article in Molecular ecology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- Phenotypic plasticity in visual opsin gene expression: a meta-analysis in teleost fish.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Pooled it
- Ordered Chaos: Photoreceptor Mosaics in the Larval and Adult Turquoise Killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri).The Journal of comparative neurology · 2026Article
- The visual challenges of short-range navigation in teleost fish.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Review
- Seeing in the Deep: Evolution of the Opsin Gene Expression in Bermin Crater Lake Cichlids.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Rapid Divergence of Visual Systems and Signaling Traits to Contrasting Light Regimes During Early Speciation of African Crater Lake Cichlid Fish.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Dietary carotenoids enhance SWS1 expression in female western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) but do not impair their likelihood of pregnancy in the presence of male guppy.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2025Article
- Genetic and Environmental Factors Shape Rates of Plasticity: The Temporal Dynamics of Opsin Gene Expression in Aquatic Environments.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- A standardized nomenclature for the rods and cones of the vertebrate retina.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Visual pigment chromophore usage in Nicaraguan Midas cichlids: phenotypic plasticity and genetic assimilation ofHydrobiologia · 2025Article
- Expansion and Functional Diversification of Long-Wavelength-Sensitive Opsin in Anabantoid Fishes.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Article
- Light wavelength modulates search behavior performance in zebrafish.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Shy and Bold Fish Have the Same Preference for Light Color Selection.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Context-dependent antioxidant defense system (ADS)-based stress memory in response to recurrent environmental challenges in congeneric invasive species.Marine life science & technology · 2024Article
- Analysing biological colour patterns from digital images: An introduction to the current toolbox.Ecology and evolution · 2024Review
- Plasticity of cone photoreceptors in adult zebrafish revealed by thyroid hormone exposure.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Oviposition behavior is not affected by ultraviolet light in a butterfly with sexually-dimorphic expression of a UV-sensitive opsin.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Developing and adult reef fish show rapid light-induced plasticity in their visual system.Molecular ecology · 2023Article
- Contribution of opsins and chromophores to cone pigment variation across populations of Lake Victoria cichlids.Journal of fish biology · 2022Article
- Seeing Picasso: an investigation into the visual system of the triggerfish Rhinecanthus aculeatus.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Color vision and niche partitioning in a diverse neotropical primate community in lowland Amazonian Ecuador.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to adapt quickly to local environmental conditions and could facilitate adaptive radiations. Cichlids have recently undergone an adaptive radiation in Lake Malawi where they inhabit diverse light environments and tune their visual sensitivity through differences in cone opsin expression. While cichlid opsin expression is known to be plastic over development, whether adults remain plastic is unknown. Adult plasticity in visual tuning could play a role in cichlid radiations by enabling survival in changing environments and facilitating invasion into novel environments. Here we examine the existence of and temporal changes in adult visual plasticity of two closely related species. In complementary experiments, wild adult Metriaclima mbenji from Lake Malawi were moved to the lab under UV-deficient fluorescent lighting; while lab raised M. benetos were placed under UV-rich lighting designed to mimic light conditions in the wild. Surprisingly, adult cichlids in both experiments showed significant changes in the expression of the UV-sensitive single cone opsin, SWS1, in only 3 days. Modeling quantum catches in the light environments revealed a possible link between the light available to the SWS1 visual pigment and SWS1 expression. We conclude that adult cichlids can undergo rapid and significant changes in opsin expression in response to environmental light shifts that are relevant to their habitat and evolutionary history in Lake Malawi. This could have contributed to the rapid divergence characteristic of these fantastic fishes.
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