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from the you-say-crayfish-I-say-crawfish dept.
No one knows exactly when the clones first appeared, but humans only became aware of them in the early 2000s.
It was a German aquarium owner who first brought it to scientists' attention. In 1995, he had acquired a bag of "Texas crayfish" from an American pet trader, only to find his tank inexplicably filling up with the creatures. They were all, it turns out, clones. Sometime, somewhere, the biological rule that making baby crayfish required a mama crayfish and papa crayfish was no longer inviolate. The eggs of the hobbyist's all-female crayfish did not need to be fertilized. They simply grew into copies of their "mother"—in a process known as parthenogenesis.
Crayfish specialists were astonished. No one had seen anything like it. But the proof was before their eyes and in 2003, scientists dubbed the creatures marbled crayfish, or Marmorkreb in German.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/attack-of-the-crayfish-clones/552236/
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday February 06 2018, @04:28PM (5 children)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by drussell on Tuesday February 06 2018, @05:10PM (1 child)
Indeed! Of course! It's just a question of whether the genetically identical ones have already decimated the existing diverse population in a given area when they finally do eventually get wiped out.
I suppose that, on the other hand, it could be actually end up being a good thing in areas where crayfish in general have become invasive. The eventual die-off could end up reducing the total population to a more equitably balanced equilibrium in that area's ecosystem.
Oh, nature... Will you ever cease to amaze?! :)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Tuesday February 06 2018, @07:10PM
There's no reason to expect an eventual die off in an aquarium, until owner gets tired of it, or dies.
But a die off so complete as to kill off all the clones is just as likely to kill the entire population of females (and probably males).
In short, only a narrowly avoided near extinction event would be better handled with genetic diversity. The normal seasonal events that crayfish suffer would probably be handled just fine by clones.
Besides, we learned recently [soylentnews.org] that it is possible that Clones don't necessarily have ZERO diversity.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Tuesday February 06 2018, @06:33PM
There is that higher reproduction rate though. I think such a problem would resolve itself via disease. That's probably why we see less such cloning in the natural world in the first place. It'll probably turn out that crayfish and related species have been able to switch to a "clone" mode for some time and even receive some evolutionary advantage when they do so, but the process doesn't happen all the time because of die offs of such populations when disease takes root.
There are species with parthenogensis [bbc.com]. However, if a species can switch back and forth it can have a temporary advantage in a changing environment. I don't know if it was a hypothetical case or not but say in a flood plain where most pools dry up but there is livable water otherwise enough of the year to reproduce, it would be an advantage. Clones suited to a spot would spread like wildfire and then later as disease or some other factor culls the population, variation through sexual reproduction could occur.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Tuesday February 06 2018, @07:43PM (1 child)
It's a disaster for genetic diversity though, before that disease wipes them out. Interesting to watch, but I'm concerned since some of the culinary advice indicates it's not as good as the crayfish it replaced. If they taste good, we can greatly help with the overpopulation via hunting, but if they taste bad......
If it happened spontaneously though, perhaps we should just let it play out instead of interfering with it.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:14PM
If they taste bad to normal humans, we just need to develop a line of self-cloning humans genetically engineered to find them tasty.