The evolution of darter color and pattern: Small, rocky streams and riffles enhance the diversification of bright and conspicuous fishes

Organismal color and pattern is important to numerous aspects of animal fitness, and may impact species divergence. Whether different environmental conditions may impact rates of color diversification, and the subsequent impacts on lineage diversification, has not been well studied. We investigated the evolution of color and pattern in Darters (Etheostomatinae; Percidae), a species-rich clade of freshwater fishes showing a remarkable diversity in color. Using recently developed approaches in color and pattern analysis we quantified color and pattern attributes in 122 species. We applied multivariate and phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate the relationship between river habitat (drainage area, elevation, slope, substrate, etc) and darter color characteristics and changes in the rate of color evolution. We found color attributes were significantly related to river habitat, and rates of color evolution differed between macro- and micro-habitat categories; smaller streams and ri..., , # Data from: The evolution of darter color and pattern: Small, rocky streams and riffles enhance the diversification of bright and conspicuous fishes

(published in the journal Evolution)

correspondence: Jessica H. Arbour; [[[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])]

The associated Dryad repository contains one file:

(1) \"colour_and_habitat_data.xlsx\" - a xlsx file that contains the supporting data used for the analyses in the manuscript

This file contains three tables.

\"Colour data by species\" includes the result of an Adjacency Analysis of darter colouration. All values in the table are averaged by species (first column). Columns B to O (p_#) give the proportion of each of 14 colour classes detailed in the supplementary materials. \"m\" is the colour class transition density per pixel between colour classes. \"A\" is the aspect ratio of color transitions. \"Sc\" and \"St\" are the Simpson diversity indices for colour class and colour transitions. \"m_dS\" is the average chro...,