Amazon molly
Amazon molly | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
Family: | Poeciliidae |
Genus: | Poecilia |
Species: | P. formosa
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Binomial name | |
Poecilia formosa (Girard, 1859)
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Synonyms[2] | |
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The Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) is a freshwater fish native to warm, fresh waters between Tuxpan River in northeastern Mexico and the Rio Grande and the Nueces River in the southern parts of the U.S. state of Texas.[1][3] It reproduces through gynogenesis, and essentially all individuals are females. The common name acknowledges this trait as a reference to the Amazon warriors, a female-run society in Greek mythology.[4]
Reproduction
Reproduction is through gynogenesis, which is sperm-dependent
In nature, the Amazon molly typically mates with a male from one of four different species, either
Since the male's sperm is not contributing to the genetic makeup of the offspring, it may seem non-beneficial for males of closely related species to participate in mating with the Amazon molly, though research shows that females of other species, such as the
The Amazon molly reaches sexual maturity one to six months after birth, and typically has a brood between 60 and 100 fry (young) being delivered every 30–40 days. This lends itself to a large potential for population growth as long as host males are present. The wide variability in maturity dates and brood sizes is a result of genetic heritage, varying temperatures, and food availability. They become sexually mature faster and produce larger broods in warm (approximately 27 °C or 80 °F) water that provides an overabundance of food.[10]
The Amazon molly has been reproducing asexually for about 100,000-200,000 years.[11] This is about 500,000 generations of Amazon molly. Asexual lineages typically go extinct after 10,000-100,000 generations.[5] There is research being done to determine how the Amazon molly has not gone extinct or developed a Muller's ratchet of mutations. Researchers believe the answer is in the genome of the Amazon molly,[12] yet more research must be done to determine this.
P. formosa is a hybrid species and P. mexicana is one of the parental species.[13] Its other progenitor is most likely an extant, as yet undescribed, subspecies of P. latipinna or an extinct ancestor of P. latipinna.
References
- ^ . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Poecilia formosa". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2019). "Poecilia formosa" in FishBase. February 2019 version.
- S2CID 27224117.
- ^ S2CID 82258075.
- ^ PMID 17637348.
- PMID 30679449.
- ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "Poecilia formosa" in FishBase. February 2019 version.
- ^ Balcombe, Jonathan (2017). What a fish knows: the inner lives of our underwater cousins. Scientific American/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. p. 190.
- ^ Fredjikrang. "The Importance of the Reproductive Techniques of Poecilia formosa". petfish.net. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006.
- ^ amazon-molly-genome-research (2019-01-09). "The Amazon Molly's Ability to Clone Itself". www.txstate.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
- ^ "Survival of all-female fish species points to its DNA | Biodesign Institute | ASU". biodesign.asu.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
- S2CID 205779353.
- No sex for all-girl fish species BBC News, 23 April 2008
- Heubel, Katja U.: Population ecology and sexual preferences in the mating complex of the unisexual Amazon molly Poecilia formosa (Girard, 1859).Hamburg, University, Diss., 2004. [1]