Amazon Mollies survive without males

Posted By Sara-Lise Haith on Monday May 5, 2008 @ 07:41 in FreeDiving

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BBC news:

Experts believe that an all female fish species has survived for 70,000 years without reproducing sexually.

(Picture credit: Dunja K Lamatsch)

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh think the Amazon Molly may be employing special genetic survival "tricks" to avoid becoming extinct, including the possibility of occasional sex with strangers (quoted from Dr Laurence Loewe, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences). The species, found in Texas and Mexico, interacts with males of other species to trigger its reproduction process.

The offspring are clones of their mother and do not inherit any of the male's DNA. Typically, when creatures reproduce asexually, harmful changes creep into their genes over many generations. Researchers calculated the time to extinction for the fish based on modelling genetic changes over many thousands of generations. They are now able to say conclusively that the fish ought to have become extinct within the past 70,000 years, based on the current simple models. Scientists believe the fish, which are still thriving in rivers in south-east Texas and north-east Mexico, are using special genetic survival "tricks" to help them stay alive.

The Edinburgh-led study was carried out in collaboration with Dr Dunja Lamatsch at the University of Wuerzburg, now at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The research is published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.