Atlantic killifish living in four polluted East Coast estuaries turn out to be remarkably resilient to toxic waters. While the fish is not commercially valuable, it is an important food for other species and an environmental indicator. What makes Atlantic killifish so special? Extremely high levels of genetic variation, higher than any other vertebrate -- humans included -- measured so far.
A team of researchers from UC Davis's genetic analysis suggests that the Atlantic killifish's genetic diversity make them unusually well positioned to adapt to survive in radically altered habitats. At the genetic level, the tolerant populations evolved in highly similar ways. This suggests that these fish already carried the genetic variation that allowed them to adapt before the sites were polluted, and that there may be only a few evolutionary solutions to pollution.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161208143334.htm
A team of researchers from UC Davis's genetic analysis suggests that the Atlantic killifish's genetic diversity make them unusually well positioned to adapt to survive in radically altered habitats. At the genetic level, the tolerant populations evolved in highly similar ways. This suggests that these fish already carried the genetic variation that allowed them to adapt before the sites were polluted, and that there may be only a few evolutionary solutions to pollution.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161208143334.htm