The Role of Heterochrony in the Evolution of Pigment Patterns in Neotropical Freshwater Fishes: Experimental Evidence from Cichlidae and Poeciliidae

Neotropical fishes display a wide variety of pigment patterns, a morphological trait that plays an important role in the adaptation and speciation of many taxonomical groups. The mechanisms by which the observed diversity is formed, especially by which different ontogenetic trajectories and novel coloration phenotypes emerge on a relatively similar genetic basis, remain incompletely understood. Heterochrony may act as one of the key mechanisms underlying the evolutionary transformations of the pigment pattern of Neotropical fishes. This work reviews experimental evidence for the participation of heterochronies in the formation of the diversity of pigment patterns in Cichlidae and Poeciliidae, and also discusses the potential role of heterochronic processes in the evolution of coloration in Neotropical fishes.