How new species arise in the sea
Tuesday, March 5, 2019 - 09:40
in Biology & Nature
For a new species to evolve, two things are essential: a characteristic—such as a colour—unique to one species and a mating preference for this characteristic. For example, individuals from a blue fish species prefer blue mates and individuals from a red fish species prefer red mates. If the two species interbreed, the process of sexual recombination is expected to destroy the coupling between colour and mate preferences and form red individuals with a preference for blue mates and vice versa. This will prevent the two species from diverging, and this is one of the reasons why it has been thought for a long time that new species can only evolve in absolute isolation, without interbreeding.