#  MCZ Lunchtime Seminar 

 



    ![poster with graphics and talk title](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2025-03/image.png?h=97da13ad&itok=F6LIgFlH) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 7, 2025** 

 12:00PM - 01:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **MCZ 101A, Robert A. Gilbert Room**  



 

 



 

## The origin and evolution of neuroanatomical diversity in ray-finned fishes

[Rodrigo T. Figueroa](https://rtfigueroa.wixsite.com/my-site)  
Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellow  
Stephanie Pierce Lab

Ray-finned fishes represent one of the most successful vertebrate groups with more than 35 thousand living species occupying a wide range of aquatic ecosystems and exhibiting a vast range of ecomorphological adaptations. Similarly, the brain morphology of ray-finned fishes is unique among vertebrates due to a myriad of unique neuroanatomical adaptations as well as showing morphological disparity not seen in other lineages. However, we still have a very limited understanding of the origins and ecomorphological diversity of ray-finned fish neuroanatomy from a systematic standpoint. My work focuses on filling these gaps by integrating information from exceptionally preserved fossils with detailed comparative anatomy of living ray-finned fishes. While fossils provide important insights on timing and ordering of origin of unique neuroanatomical adaptations a wide sample of living taxa provides an unprecedented opportunity for exploring patterns of neuroanatomical diversity in this major vertebrate lineage.



 

 



 

 

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