limnetic

Some researchers refer to this as the limnetic form.

The limnetic zone is the well-lit, open surface waters in a lake, away from the shore.

Newly hatched larvae are 8-9 mm in length and mostly inhabit the limnetic portion of the water column.

The award is given in terrestrial ecology, marine ecology and limnetic ecology interchangeably.

The western tubenose goby, or freshwater tubenose goby, (Proterorhinus semilunaris) is a limnetic fish species in the Gobiidae family.

One fascinating aspect of this morphological variation is that a number of lakes contain both a limnetic and a benthic type, and these do not interbreed with each other.

The juveniles and adults are benthic and limnetic plankton feeders that also eat cladocera, copepods, algae, Chironomidae, ostracods, and other insect larvae and invertebrates depending on availability.

The three-spine stickleback is now usually considered an example of "double invasion" (a form of allopatric speciation) in which repeated invasions of marine forms have subsequently differentiated into benthic and limnetic forms.

Studies on other fish species have shown similar patterns of selection for benthic and limnetic morphologies (Dayan and Simberloff 2005), which can also lead to sympatric speciation (e.g., Barluenga et al. 2006).

A more recent study, using genetic markers from the nuclear genome, shows that limnetic forms in different lakes are more closely related to each other (and to marine lineages) than to benthic forms in the same lake.

Both observations of natural populations and manipulative experiments show that when two recently evolved species occur in a single lake, two morphologies are selected for: a limnetic form that feeds in open water and a benthic form that feeds at the lake bottom.

These benthic and limnetic species even display their mating preferences when presented with sticklebacks from Japanese lakes; that is, a Canadian benthic prefers a Japanese benthic over its close limnetic cousin from its own lake.