Imagine the identity crisis for the fish that goes by the name of tapetail, whalefish and bignose. Until recently it was believed that these three groups of fish were completely different families of fish but closer examination by genetic biologists has revealed otherwise. It turns out that the tapetail and whalefish share the same mitochondrial DNA and the three names actually describe the larval, female and male stages of a single fish family. The larval tapetail lives in shallow water descending to deeper water when it is mature and it’s only within the last year that intermediate forms of the fish have been found. Let’s hope that this kind of transformation never affects any popular reef fish. Article from New Scientist and image by G.David Johnson/Donal Hughes/Bruce Robinson.
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