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In fact it seems backwards, if the glowing gene makes fish with it more visible to predators, shouldn't that select against it and make it less likely to gain a
by blacksmith_tb 5y ago
In fact it seems backwards, if the glowing gene makes fish with it more visible to predators, shouldn't that select against it and make it less likely to gain a foothold in the environment? I would think local, camouflaged fish would benefit if their usual predators switched to the easier meal.
- freemint 5y agoExcept glowing fishes might have mating advantage and it it probably also a dominant gene. We don't know and that should give us room for pause.
- hadlock 5y agoBut before that, they need to survive until sexual maturity, which is well north of one year for most fish. They're not like mice which can reproduce inside of a month or three.
- _Microft 5y agoWikipedia says that zebrafish have a generation time of 3 month and the article says that the glowing ones reproduce even earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebrafish#Reproduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebrafish#Reproduction
- NicoJuicy 5y agoYou can't mate or produce offspring if you're eaten.
- freemint 5y agoThe fact that we found them says they are probably not gonna be eaten to extinction
- jagger27 5y ago> Unlike Florida, the Brazilian creeks don’t have any local predators for zebrafish, and Magalhães believes they are now thriving.