2 Species, 1 Trait, but 2 Genes (IMAGE)

University of Utah

2 Species, 1 Trait, but 2 Genes

Caption

The two fish on the left are ninespine sticklebacks and the two on the right are threespine sticklebacks. The two fish on top have pelvises and pelvic spines, the two fish on the bottom evolved to lose their pelvises and pelvic spines (all indicated by the arrows). A University of Utah study made a surprising finding that the loss of the pelvis in the two species was caused by a different gene in each fish, even though the two species are closely related. The study sheds light on how diversity evolves in nature and how some species evolve to lose their limbs.

Credit

Mike Shapiro, University of Utah.

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