Fish color evolution

Researchers have looked at a species of fish to help unravel one of the biggest mysteries in evolutionary biology.Research published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology has looked at a species of Central American freshwater fish to look at how different colors are maintained in the species."Color variants of the same species are a striking example of biological variation, yet the adaptive significance and what evolutionary processes maintain them, remains unknown."Sowersby said the team looked at a species of fish called the red devil cichilds, which comes in two colors one is dark (grey through black with dark patterns) and the other is gold, (yellow through red).The gold colored fish is genetically dominate but the darker colored fish is much more common.The researchers filmed the red devil cichlids over both dark and light surfaces. Screenshots were then analysed to measure the amount of change to the shade of the fish's body color. After analysis they found that the darker fish could alter its brightness to match the surface it was on, while the gold colored fish could not.This is relevant to our class because we are learning about evolution.