What We Really Know About The Diversity Of Clownfish
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Clownfish are a recent example of an adaptive radiation that occurred within the tropical oceans of the Indo-Pacific. Their adaptation to associate with anemones allowed rapid diversification across the region following the acquisition of a new resource. Recent work resolving the relationships among clownfish has helped biologists understand more about how speciation occurs in the marine environment. While some classical assumptions remain true, others have been challenged. We also finally have an idea of how the first clownfish might have looked and behaved, and how certain physical characteristics among the group have changed over time.
Clownfish underwent their initial formation around 15 – 20 million years ago in the ‘bulls eye of diversity’ that is the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA). This initial event was followed by a geographical replicate as ancestors to the African clownfish crossed the Indian Ocean and reached the coast of Madagascar and Southeast Africa around 4 million years ago. These fishes were able to exploit new regions of habitable reef environments. The African coast, Arabian Peninsula, and finally the Red Sea, are the furthest geographic areas inhabited by clownfish, and species indigenous to these areas are some of the most derived (recently …read more
Read more here: Advanced Aquarist
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