A group of Hungarian aquatic scientists on the search to preserve sturgeon eggs for caviar accidentally created this bizarre-looking hybrid. Part American paddlefish and part Russian sturgeon, the “sturddlefish” study appeared this month in the scientific journal基因.
它是如何发生的
The initial goal of the study was to encourage the critically endangered sturgeon to reproduce asexually. The Russian sturgeon, instead, hybridized with the American paddlefish, the first time the two have ever hybridized successfully in captivity.
The paddlefish was originally meant to provide sperm not its DNA to help the sturgeon reproduce on its own. The sturgeon isn’t so genetically different from paddlefish — they belong to the same group,Acipenseriformes.
Previous hybridization attempts between American paddlefish and other sturgeons hadn’t worked, the authors wrote. And for their evolutionary similarities, the two have vastly different feeding habits, preferred habitats and physical characteristics.
“Plus, the two fish would never have met naturally. The American paddlefish dwells in the Mississippi River Basin, and the Russian sturgeon inhabits Russian rivers. The Russian sturgeon is considered extremely valuable for its roe, or eggs.
这两种物种都受到萎缩和过度捕捞的威胁。虽然st鱼的鱼子酱是一种美味佳肴，但在俄罗斯水域中，鱼本身极为罕见。
That’s why the researchers, all from Hungary, wanted to encourage the sturgeon to reproduce through gynogenesis, which uses the treated sperm of another species to coax the specimen’s eggs to develop. But in gynogenesis, the DNA of the sperm specimen isn’t supposed to transfer to the offspring
What the hybrids could do next
有两种类型的杂种鱼：其中一个是一部分桨鱼，两部分st鱼，另一部分是一个p paddlefish，四分之二st鱼。他们中的大多数人在孵化后一个月幸存了一个月，杂种类似于st鱼，其后背和鼻子短，尽管其中一个人确实有一个尖尖的鼻子，让人想起了paddle鱼的父母。”为什么仍然是开放的问题，”首席作者詹说？匈牙利国家农业研究与创新中心渔业与水产养殖研究所的水产养殖研究人员Káldy。两者可能杂交，因为st鱼的进化缓慢。这意味着其形态和基因与其他物种的差异可能更少，包括美国pad鱼。
杂交鲟是典型ly used in aquaculture and provide around 20% of global caviar production, the researchers said. But if the hybrids adopt the paddlefish parents’ habits and learn to feed on plankton and other microscopic organisms instead of the more discerning sturgeon’s diet of crustaceans and larger fare, they may play “an important role in adapting pond aquaculture to the challenges of climate change,” the authors wrote.
简而言之，如果这些“斯特德鱼”最终不需要喂食，而可以依靠其栖息地中的天然浮游生物，那么喂养它们会导致的碳排放会减少。偶然的混合动力车将其与他们的创造者想象的更有价值。
As for saving the endangered sturgeon, the study “has taken us closer to our aims,” Káldy said. For now, though, the hybrids live peacefully at a research facility in Hungary, where there’s no risk they’ll invade non-native waters.[CNN]
