Life History Choices of Fishes in Response to Diverse Environments

Fishes represent an extremely diverse group of organisms, both within and among species. This diversity reflects their association with the environment and resources like habitat and food. Here, examples from diverse life histories of fishes are used to illustrate the significance of the patterns and processes involved in the ongoing dynamic relationships organisms have with their environment. This exploration relates directly to an ongoing paradigm shift in evolutionary biology, where organismal development is at the core. This paper applies knowledge of phenotypic plasticity and transgenerational plasticity in fishes in concert with biosemiotics to explain this kind of approach. It is concluded that the role of signals and cues involved in organismal interpretation and responses to changing conditions play a key role in understanding how new opportunities for development and evolution become realised through complex pathways influencing phenotypic variation within and across generations. Because of their diversity and responsiveness, especially in developmental and life history strategies, fishes are excellent subjects to study this further both theoretically and empirically.