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Evolutionary aspects of cephalic sensory papillae of the Indo‐Pacific species of Eleotris (Teleostei: Eleotridae)
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International audience. Eleotris species (Teleostei: Eleotridae) are one of the most common fish in Indo‐Pacific estuaries and insular freshwater streams. In these rivers, they are a sit‐andwaitpredator. They have an amphidromous life cycle, that is adults grow, feed andreproduce in rivers, while larvae have a marine dispersal phase. Larvae recruit backto rivers and settle in stream habitats. Primary characters used to determine Eleotrisspecies are the presence and the disposition of cephalic sensory papillae rows on theoperculum and under the eyes as well as scale row numbers. The morphology ofthese cephalic sensory papillae is of particular importance in this predatory genusas it is generally correlated in fish to predation and feeding. In this paper, we haveestablished a molecular phylogeny of the genus based on the 12 mitochondrial protein‐coding genes to discuss the relationship between Indo‐Pacific Eleotris species.There is a well‐supported dichotomy in the molecular phylogeny, and this separationinto two main clades is also morphologically visible, as it reveals a difference in thearrangement of cephalic sensory papillae. Indeed, the phylogeny distinguishes thespecies with the “open” pattern of the operculum sensory papillae and the specieswith the “closed” one. This phylogeny thus reflects the morphology of the opercularpapillae. The evolution of this character is discussed in terms of the adaptation of theEleotris genus to life in tropical insular river systems.