>A better definition of a species is "an isolated breeding population".
>snip.snip,
>While this last scenario is not likely to happen with rainbows (or is
>it??), something has now been lost there.
I would agree with you Ron and that's why it is very important to maintain
and breed rainbowfishes by location rather than by assumed species. A case
in point is M.duboulayi and M.fluviatilis, who for many years were
considered one species. Although some rainbowfish enthusiasts always thought
they were different. There was even a controlled breeding study done to
confirm the popular scientifically accepted theory that if two species could
breed and produce viable offspring, then they were the same species. The
results did in fact produce fertile offspring. However, today we know they
are classed as 2 distinct species. I think somewhere down the track we will
find some of our so-called 'morphs' will be found to be different species.
I think rainbowfishes like the African lake cichlids have fairly recent
speciation. I think that all the different colour morphs have their own
distinct appearance and serious aquarists should strive to preserve these
differences.
Adrian.
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Adrian R. Tappin
Home of the Rainbowfish
http://www.ecn.net.au/~atappin/home.htm
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