Luke
On Tue, 23 Jan 2001, Bruce Stallsmith wrote:
> Reading this account about blue pike vs. yellow pike, I've developed serious
> doubts about whether the blue pike is really a species. Dr. King below says
> the blue pike "was fished out before it had a chance to evolve". Huh?!? It
> sounds like the "blue" pike was a fixed morph in a complex of populations
> that probably interbred. Maybe there's something to the theory that
> thiaminase in smelt was/is destructive of B1 vitamins in some of these
> pikes, and they've been selected against in the last 50 years. If true, even
> if you find believable "blue" pikes and breed a bunch of them, if you put
> them back in the Great Lakes the same thing will happen again since there
> are still smelt in the Lakes.
>
> Am I missing something here?
>
> --Bruce Stallsmith
> Huntsville, AL
>
> >From all accounts, the blue pike was distinct in both appearance and
> >habitat from its cousin the yellow pike. However, King said, it is possible
> >that the blue pike, while evolving as a separate species, did not have
> >enough time to develop a clearly different DNA.
> >
> >"It was fished out before it had a chance to evolve," he speculated.
> >
> >King said there were no fish in the lakes at the end of the last Ice Age
> >10,000 to 12,000 years ago. If blue pike were a separate species that
> >evolved from yellow pike, even 10,000 years might not have been enough
> >time for blues to develop a radically distinctive DNA, he reasoned.
>
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