UCE sequence data of synbranchiform fishes

Synbranchiformes is a phenotypically diverse and species rich clade of freshwater acanthomorph fishes, which include eel-like and perch-like, air-breathing and non-air-breathing fishes. The lack of a well-resolved, time-calibrated phylogeny of Synbranchiformes limits the understanding of the timing and geographic patterns of diversification of these anatomically and ecologically divergent fishes. As a consequence, contemporary interpretations of synbranchiform biogeography invoke scenarios as disparate as Gondwana vicariance and pan-global rafting to explain their modern-day geographic distribution. In this study, we use high-throughput sequencing of ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) to infer a phylogeny for all major synbranchiform lineages. We use Bayesian methods of biogeographical reconstruction to document the history of dispersal of synbranchiforms, finding support for Southeast Asia as the likely ancestral area of all major lineages.