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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