Fish and Genes: from Marine Ecology to Applied Hydrobiology and Beyond

Molecular tools are constantly utilized for the study of fish species in both basic and applied research hypotheses. The former part is consisted of fundamental questions that are relevant to the evolutionary origin, the adaptations of fish species and their ecological interrelations. Fish species have contributed in advancing our knowledge of vertebrate evolution, including the function of human genes. In addition, fish and humans share many physiological pathways and the study of fish model species draws inferences on human biology. The latter section deals with fisheries management and domestication in aquaculture conditions. Comprehension of diversity patterns will be the future subject of fisheries research in the near future. Such studies will provide managing organizations information on potential effects of fishing and climate change on the fishery stock dynamics. Current methods are utilized to maximize production efficiency for healthy fish rearing. State-of-the-art technologies, such as genomics, are currently under development as a future perspective in the field of aquaculture.