Pocillopora corals are the main reef builders in the eastern tropical Pacific. The validity of Pocillopora morphospecies remains under debate because of disagreements between morphological and genetic data. To evaluate the temporal stability of morphospecies in situ, we monitored the shapes of individual colonies in three communities in the southern Gulf of California for 44 months. Twenty-three percent of tagged colonies of Pocillopora damicornis changed to Pocillopora inflata morphology during this time. This switch in identity coincided with a shift to a higher frequency of storms and lower water turbidity (i.e., lower chlorophyll a levels). Seven months after the switch, P. inflata colonies were recovering their original P. damicornis morphology. All colonies of both morphospecies shared a common mitochondrial identity, but most P. damicornis colonies undergoing change were at a site with low-flow conditions. This is the first in situ study to document switching between described morphospecies, and it elucidates the influence of temporal shifts in environmental conditions on morphologically plastic responses.

The fish family Haemulidae is divided in two subfamilies, Haemulinae and Plectorhynchinae (sweetlips), including approximately 17 genera and 145 species. The family has a broad geographic distribution that encompasses contrasting ecological habitats resulting in a unique potential for evolutionary hypotheses testing. In the present work we have examined the phylogenetic relationships of the family using selected representatives of additional Percomorpha based on Bayesian and Maximum likelihood methods by means of three mitochondrial genes. We also developed a phylogenetic hypothesis of the New World species based on five molecular markers (three mitochondrial and two nuclear) as a framework to evaluate the evolutionary history, the ecological diversification and speciation patterns of this group.

In the Gulf of California; mineral deposits have contributed to high metal contents in coastal environments. This study examined cadmium; lead; copper; zinc; and iron contents in three fish species; Kyphosus vaigiensis (herbivore), Stegastes rectifraenum (omnivore), and Balistes polylepis (carnivore) at two mining sites. Metal concentrations were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes were estimated using mass spectrophotometry. Also, we assessed the risk to human health from the consumption of these three species based on permissible limits; although only two of them (Kyphosus and Balistes) are consumed as food. Metal concentrations differed among fish species; except for iron. The highest concentrations of metals were not always recorded in the species at the highest trophic level; i.e., Balistes. The highest concentrations (dry weight) recorded were cadmium (0.21 ± 0.03 µg g⁻¹) and lead (1.67 ± 0.26 µg g⁻¹), in S. rectifraenum; copper (1.60 ± 0.49 µg g⁻¹) and zinc (67.30 ± 8.79 µg g⁻¹), in B. polylepis; and iron (27.06 ± 2.58 µg g⁻¹), in K. vaigiensis. Our findings show that each element accumulates differently in particular marine organisms; depending on the physiology of the species and the biogeochemistry of its habitat; which in turn is affected by the anthropogenic activities in adjacent areas. No risk of heavy metals toxicity is expected from the human consumption of the species and sites studied