T. J. Near

Reproductive innovation enabled radiation in the deep sea during an ecological crisis

This study shows how sexual parasitism and immune gene degeneration in anglerfishes enabled their evolutionary radiation into deep-sea pelagic habitats during a global warming event.

Lacustrine speciation associated with chromosomal inversion in a lineage of riverine fishes

The paper shows that chromosomal inversion drives speciation in riverine fishes despite ongoing gene flow, revealing evolutionary convergence in genomic architecture.

Widespread sympatry in a species-rich clade of marine fishes (Carangoidei)

This study generates a phylogeny of marine fishes in the Carangoidei clade using UCEs and finds widespread sympatry among sister species pairs.

Hidden species diversity in a living fossil vertebrate

The paper uses ddRAD sequencing and CT scans to identify a second species in the ancient Bowfin lineage, dating diversification to the Pleistocene.

Periodic Environmental Disturbance Drives Repeated Ecomorphological Diversification in an Adaptive Radiation of Antarctic Fishes

The paper examines diversification patterns in Antarctic fishes under periodic environmental disturbance, finding repeated trait space diversification and niche complementarity.

Prolonged morphological expansion of spiny-rayed fishes following the end-Cretaceous

This study investigates the morphological expansion of spiny-rayed fishes after the K-Pg extinction, finding a prolonged diversification driven by body elongation and lineage radiation throughout the Cenozoic.

Historical contingency shapes adaptive radiation in Antarctic fishes

This study shows that historical contingency, not adaptive evolution, drove key skeletal modifications in Antarctic notothenioid fishes before polar conditions arose.