The study explains the evolution of different striped types in clownfish

"Under the Sea" let everyone know Nemo. The three white stripes on Nemo's orange body make it look like both a clown from the West and an ugly horn from Beijing Opera, so people call it "The ClownFish".
recently, Nemo's sloppy stripes have caused scientists to wonder where they came from. On September 4th,
published a research paper giving answers to the above questions.
published today explains the evolution of different striped types in clownfish and how individuals in different populations grow up with stripes.
Clownfish belongs to a species of coral fish that has evolved so colorfully, but interestingly, it is not yet clear how these colors evolved and how they were formed during the life of the fish.
" clownfish ancestors originally had three white stripes, after which they lost some of them in evolution. We found striking similarities between the loss of stripes during species evolution and the development of different stripe patterns in individual species today. The paper's author, Vincent Laudet, Ph.D., of the University of Sorbonne in France, said.
researchers studied two types of clownfish, a three-striped clownfish like Nemo, known as a double-eye sawfish, and a striped fish called a tomato clownfish.
found that when both clownfish were just hatched "babys", they had no stripes on them. The two clownfish then grow stripes on their heads and torso at the same time. Later, the eye-spotted double sawfish gradually grew a third stripe near the tail, while the tomato clownfish gradually lost the streak on its torso before it was about to become an elder.
researchers also looked at the development of 26 other clown fish, and they observed that at least nine clown fish, like tomato clownfish, had more streaks in their early years than they did in adulthood.
interestingly, every existing clownfish is born with stripes that grow from the back, and some of these species individuals lose stripes as they grow up. "It's similar to the disappearance of stripes in the evolutionary history of clownfish." Laudet said.
not only that, but although clownfish stripes range from 0 to 3, they are very limited in their organization. "You'll never find a clown fish with only one stripe on its tail, or a clownfish with a stripe on its head and a stripe on its tail." Laudet said.
, how did this magical make-up come about? The researchers decided to look at the molecular level.
, they used a substance used to inhibit the striped development of zebrafish. The substance works on some of the subjects in the iridescular cells, which are cells in the animal skin that give the animal's surface a variety of luster.
results, they found that the treated young fish did not fully develop the stripes that should have developed, and that some young fish did not even grow a stripe because of the different doses used.
findings suggest that stripes on clownfish are produced by iridescular cells, and that a decrease in iridescular cells inhibits stripes.
because coral fish provide complex color patterns, providing a unique opportunity to understand the origin of complex patterns. Revealing why coral fish have so many color patterns, how they evolved, and where they began to diversify will help us understand the formation of very complex esoptis. Laudet said.
the study, Yu Feng, a researcher at the Institute of Oceans of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that although the study was fundamental, it could provide a theoretical basis for application, as in marine biology research. The researchers' exploration of the clownfish stripe mechanism may not only provide theoretical support for future breeding of similar fish, but also help enrich the ornamental fish market. (Source: China Science Daily, Nie Sijie)