Resilient Life: Fish Evolved to Survive Toxic Waters of Elizabeth River
You might have heard how life is very resilient and that we have found life forms in the harshest of environment. It seems like life wants to happen.
In the modern era, a lot of species of the world have been threatened by human activities. We have caused enormous amounts of air, water and soil pollution. Due to the direct effects of some of our activities like deforestation, many species have gone extinct.
But in a first, a species of fish is reclaiming its habitat that us humans had pretty much rendered uninhabitable. The habitat in discussion is the Elizabeth River which is one of the most polluted rivers in the east coast US.
The toxicity of the water in the river is 8000 times higher than the lethal limit which is so high that it was considered almost impossible for any living organism to sustain life there.
But somehow, the Killifish not only survive there but thrive in it. Scientists were baffled by this and put forward an explanation that the fish must have evolved with genetic mutation to withstand the high toxicity levels.
This goes to show that nature is willing to fight back against all the adverse impact we have had on the planet. We are literally forcing species to evolve! But can some of the others adapt like the Killifish to save them from extinction?
Source: https://futurism.com/the-age-of-the-human-these-fish-evolved-to-survive-toxic-waters/
Life finds a way
It sure does!
I thought that evolution took millions of years.
Yeah, I thought that too. Apparently there have been a lot of instances of quick adaption recently.
is that the only explanation?
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AND so the minnows will evolve too. :-）
Haha! They will too ;)