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Gulf Killifish Have Evolved to Thrive in Intensely Polluted Water

posted by Fnord666 on Monday May 06 2019, @10:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the sounds-fishy-to-me dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for mrpg

A small fish somehow evolved resistance to the heavily polluted water of the Houston Ship Channel by mysteriously acquiring genes from another fish from thousands of miles away, according to a new paper.

The researchers captured killifish from 12 increasingly polluted sites along the Houston Shop[sic] Channel and in Galveston Bay. They had the fish spawn in a laboratory and tested how the embryos fared against a pollutant called polychlorinated biphenyl. Fish from the most polluted sites could withstand concentrations 1,000 times higher than normally harmful levels, according to the paper published in Science.

But the incredible realization of how this fish evolved its pollution resistance came from genetic testing. A pair [of] genes from the pollutant-resistant Gulf killifish, including a segment with deleted DNA that seemed to account for the resistance, appeared to come directly from another species, the Atlantic killifish. The researchers estimated that this little bit of genetic material entered the Gulf killifish's gene pool no more than 34 generations ago, after a Gulf killifish hybridized with an Atlantic killifish.

Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish

Source: https://gizmodo.com/this-fish-has-evolved-to-thrive-in-intensely-polluted-w-1834473178

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday May 06 2019, @10:27PM (6 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Monday May 06 2019, @10:27PM (#839877)

    mysteriously acquiring genes from another fish from thousands of miles away, according to a new paper.

    Not a big mystery, it's called the Internet. Jeez.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @10:41PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @10:41PM (#839882)

    I can't imagine how a fish can transfer genes on Facebook.

    • (Score: 2) by edIII on Monday May 06 2019, @11:27PM (4 children)

      by edIII (791) on Monday May 06 2019, @11:27PM (#839901)

      Neither can I. I would expect Tinder, or Pornhub, but not Facebook.

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @11:31PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @11:31PM (#839902)

        Pretty sure they hooked up on Plentyoffish.

        • (Score: 2) by sshelton76 on Tuesday May 07 2019, @12:30AM (2 children)

          by sshelton76 (7978) on Tuesday May 07 2019, @12:30AM (#839920)

          Oh my kingdom for modpoints.
          For anyone who missed the reference...
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iWxD0GZVVk [youtube.com]

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @12:55AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @12:55AM (#839934)

            Well, PlentyOfFish.com is also a dating site (not just a clever bit in a video).

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @02:21AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @02:21AM (#839961)

              Wow i feel dumber for not having known that!