Re: NANFA-- Darters in Mississippi

R. W. Wolff (choupiqu_at_wctc.net)
Tue, 26 Jun 2001 14:32:31 -0500

> I don't understand the last part of this. Everything is a "variation" of
> something else. If we were to use your definition we'd have one species
> and call it "fish" :-)

I agree, but the naming of these fish are not reflecting the relationships.
I know its a headache, but until recently all cichlids were cichlasoma, for
the most part. Now the names more closely reflect the relationships of the
fish. There is the other extreme where a group of cichlid ( I am not up on
them that much to remember what lake or which name or what reasons) in an
one of the African lakes is split down so many times that its almost as if
every divided population is its own species. yet here in NA the northern
longear was oddly switched back, to megalotis from peltastes. No difference
in DNA or something like that. Anyone looking at them can see they are
strikingly different. Also, in the Kankakee river in northern Illinois, one
of the few places both fish occur, they dont hybridize. I think they may a
bit, but that is what I read.
Ray

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