Capturing the eye of a potential mate is the first step in propagating a species. But can the way a female sees males of a certain color lead a single species of fish to split into linkurl:two?;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14251/ A study published this week in Nature suggests two species of cichlid fish -- one red and one blue -- may have arisen from the female mating preference for males she is best able to see. "We've wanted since Darwin to understand how species originate," said linkurl: Karen Carleton,;http://www.biology.umd.edu/faculty/kcarleton/index.html a biologist at the University of Maryland and co-author of the study. "This is one of first times we've been able to understand from the molecular level to the fish to the environment to get the whole picture." Researchers have long believed that linkurl: geographic isolation;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23103/ was the primary force behind the evolution of a single species into two reproductively incompatible groups, yet, as...
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