Fish of the Garra species have become more omnivorous in the course of evolution. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Science Foundation.
In the traditional view of biologists, under certain conditions, a species can become dependent on a particular nutrient and develop narrow specialization. The reverse process is considered almost impossible, and therefore many rare species die due to the disappearance of a unique food source.
Russian scientists studied fish of the Garra species, including the doctor fish (Gara rufa), used to combat psoriasis in Turkish and Egyptian resorts. They are common in freshwater bodies of Asia and Africa. Scientists recently discovered that six closely related subspecies of Garra dembeensis live in the Sor River in the Ethiopian highlands, and the differences between them go so far that new species may form.
In this regard, scientists have studied the structure of the body, its nutrition and the conditions in which Garra dembeensis lives. To do this, the researchers captured several of the six variations, studied them and carried out an isotopic analysis, which allows you to analyze the body’s nutrition. He showed that species were divided into subspecies due to new forms of dietary specialization.
The common ancestor of these fish ate the algae that grew on the surface of the rocks by scraping them. New variations have moved into other ecological niches: carnivores, omnivores or other herbivorous diets. According to scientists, this does not correspond to the generally accepted notion that competition for resources almost always leads to the development and strengthening of food specialization among closely related animal species, leading to their movement in the opposite direction.
The biologists plan to continue to observe to find out the reason for the dietary changes in these fish.
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