How Hybrid Fish and Corals can Create New Species

Hybrid reef fish are available infrequently in the hobby, and they always go for almost crazy amounts of money. It turns out, in the wild hybrids are far less common - occurring all over in corals and mostly at the boundary between two species' ranges in fish. The only catch is that probably most hybrids look exactly like a normal fish - you'd never know that it was a hybrid unless you look into it's genetics.

That's exactly what scientists are starting to do. As DNA and all its associated things becomes easier and cheaper to work with, more and more data is becoming available to study. The more we look, the more hybrids we are finding!

Under the right circumstances, hybrids can go on to create new species - and we think that this is likely part of why coral reefs have such incredible biodiversity today. Eons and eons of hybridization where the hybrid fish, coral, shark - even sea snake! - finds a niche and establishes as a new species. The Acroporidae family is packed with hybrid corals (and it contains the Acropora, Montipora, Anacropora, and all those genuses)! Similarly, the large marine angelfish - the Pomacanthidae - has nearly half its species involved in hybridization today.

Hobbs, JP.A., Richards, Z.T., Popovic, I. et al. Hybridisation and the evolution of coral reef biodiversity. Coral Reefs (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02193-9

Molecular phylogenetics of the butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae): Taxonomy and biogeography of a global coral reef fish family
November 2007, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 45(1):50-68
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.018

Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video!

I upload at least one video each week, so check out my channel for more!
https://www.youtube.com/c/ReefMan?sub_confirmation=1