Monday 19 June 2017

Distant fish relatives share looks




June 15, 2017 

James Cook University scientists have found evidence that even distantly related Australian fish species have evolved to look and act like each other, which confirms a central tenet of evolutionary theory. 

Dr Aaron Davis from the Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER) at JCU said the phenomenon, known as convergent evolution, happens when different fish adopt similar lifestyles and evolve through time to look very similar.

Scientists used techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and x-ray imaging to investigate species' bodies and feeding mechanisms.

"The study highlighted some really striking similarities in characteristics like tooth and jaw structure and body shape between Australian freshwater grunters and several other marine fish families when they share feeding habits," said Dr Davis.

Convergent evolution is one of the fundamental predictions of evolutionary theory. The JCU research was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal (and highlighted on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website).

It identified significant convergence in body form between Australian freshwater terapontid grunters and several distantly related marine fish families separated by 30-50 million years of evolution.

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