Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Levell, Samantha
Area of Concentration
Marine Biology with Chemistry
Abstract
Located in Southwest Florida, Sarasota Bay is home to three sympatric and congeneric species of pipefish: The Chain Pipefish (Syngnathus louisianae), the Dusky Pipefish (Syngnathus floridae), and the Gulf Pipefish (Syngnathus scovelli). These three species share an overlapping habitat, which allows for potential hybridization to occur. This hybridization could lead to potential extinction of current species or the creation of new species, due to the mismatched matings. This poses an issue to the conservation of the parent species, as current legislation does not protect hybrid species. This experiment set out to find whether the sympatric nature of the three Syngnathus species would interbreed under artificial rearing, resulting in successful mating and embryo development, barring the presence of pre- or postzygotic barriers. Using statistical analysis, it was found that there was a significant difference in the success rate between intra- and inter-mating occurrences. However, during the post-hoc analysis, there was no significant difference in the success rate for the comparison of specific crosses. Due to the inconsistency of the analysis, it could not be concluded that the three Syngnathus species of Sarasota Bay hybridize.
Recommended Citation
Waters, Megan, "Assessing the Potential for Hybridization of Three Syngnathus Species in Sarasota Bay" (2025). Theses & ETDs. 6730.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/6730