Hendry's team observed that male river sockeyes are slimmer than their lake counterparts (to better deal with the river's strong current), while the female river sockeye are larger than their beach counterparts. River females need to bury their eggs deep into the gravel, which can be disturbed or destroyed by high water flows. Hendry has never claimed to have found a different species, only two reproductively isolated populations that do not interbreed freely anymore. "This is the same process by which new species might arise," he says.
Despite the "might," Hendry's paper has spawned much discussion. The findings "cross two broad areas of interest, salmon conservation and speciation," Hendry says, "and I've been challenged on both fronts, almost independently." Some support for his theory comes from evolutionary biologist David Reznick, University of California, Riverside, who says the study "serves as an important and different way of how speciation might occur." ...
