這些魚可以在交配時創(chuàng)造新物種

這些魚可以在交配時創(chuàng)造新物種

An unusual type of fish has the ability to produce entirely new species when it mates.

一種不同尋常的魚能在交配時產(chǎn)生全新的物種。

Cichlids, a colorful fish typically found in the freshwater lakes of Africa, can sometimes have sex with the wrong partner.

慈鯛是一種生活在非洲淡水湖的彩色魚類，它有時會與錯誤的伴侶發(fā)生性行為。

According to a new 10-year study on two African freshwater lakes published in Nature Communications, the females accidentally could introduce new genes into their population.

根據(jù)發(fā)表在《自然通訊》(Nature Communications)雜志上的一項針對非洲兩個淡水湖進行的為期10年的新研究，雌魚可能會意外地將新的基因引入它們的種群。

“This could have been because when the lake formed, the water was very cloudy and they couldn’t see colors properly so the females were not being as choosy about selecting a mate in their new environment,” evolutionary biologist Joana Meier, from the University of Cambridge, said in a statement.

劍橋大學(xué)進化生物學(xué)家瓊娜·邁耶在一份聲明中說:“這可能是因為當(dāng)湖泊形成時，湖水很渾濁，它們看不清顏色，所以雌性在新環(huán)境中對擇偶沒有那么挑剔。”

The scientists, led by Meier, said they discovered more than 40 new cichlid species over the course of the study in Lake Mweru, on the longest arm of the Congo River.

邁耶領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的科學(xué)家們說，他們在剛果河最長的支流姆維魯湖研究期間發(fā)現(xiàn)了40多種新的慈鯛。

“Mating between cichlids from different drainage systems produced very diverse offspring combining the genetic traits of both parental species,” she added.

她補充說:“來自不同排水系統(tǒng)的慈鯛交配產(chǎn)生了非常多樣化的后代，結(jié)合了兩個親本物種的遺傳特征。”