Latest news with #OscarPuebla
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Why are tropical animals so colorful?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. From the striking rainbow colors of parrots in the rainforest to the brilliant flashes of yellows, oranges and blues in coral reefs, vibrantly colorful wildlife abounds in tropical ecosystems. But what is it about these environments that has driven their animal inhabitants to evolve such eye-catching hues? Broadly speaking, animals tend to use color to communicate, said Oscar Puebla, a fish ecologist at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Germany. "It could be communication with members of your species — for example, to attract a mate," he told Live Science. "It could be communication to predators to make the point that you're venomous. It could be camouflage to escape predators." The reasons and methods of this color communication vary massively among species and environments. Birds tend to acquire colored pigments — like red, orange and yellow carotenoids — through their diet and use the resulting strong coloration to attract a partner or establish dominance. Meanwhile, fish and mollusks use complex microscopic structures within their cells to bend and diffract light and thus change their color to camouflage them from predators. But whether it's on land or under the sea, tropical conditions have played a huge part in this evolved adaptation. Sign up for our newsletter Sign up for our weekly Life's Little Mysteries newsletter to get the latest mysteries before they appear online. "There's a correlation between the diversity of a certain community and the amount of color or diversity in color that the different species display," said Roberto Arbore, an evolutionary biologist at the Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources in Portugal who specializes in parrots. "If you live in a very diverse community, such as a rainforest, you need to recognize individuals of the same species because interacting with individuals of different species can be very costly in terms, for example, of mating." Birds, in particular, rely on their sense of sight to perceive the world. The sheer number of avian species in the forest environment therefore drives up this competition to stand out, leading to the extraordinary variety of colors and patterns exhibited by parrots, hummingbirds, toucans and other birds that call the tropics home. However, "we have to be careful always with these colors and color patterns," Puebla cautioned. "The way we perceive colors could be very different from the way other animals perceive it." Related: Why are animals so colorful? This is especially true in marine systems. Because of the way light travels through water, red is absorbed extremely quickly, counterintuitively making it the ideal color for camouflage. Similarly, bright patterns that appear ostentatious to human eyes help many small fish hide from predators in the clear waters of coral reefs. "Reef fishes have a lot of blue and yellow, but many fish do not see that," Puebla said. "These are colors with a very strong contrast, so they use that to break their silhouette as a way of camouflaging." The high diversity and good visibility within tropical environments provide strong evolutionary pressures for colorful appearance, but there's also a physiological explanation for this abundance of color in animals that live near the equator, Arbore said. The production of color, whether through pigments or microstructural features, requires an investment of energy — something in short supply in harsher environments such as the tundra or desert. RELATED MYSTERIES —Why is there so much biodiversity in the tropics? —How do octopuses change color? —Why is the color blue so rare in nature? "Normally, tropical habitats are more rich," Arbore told Live Science. "The conditions are more generous in terms of energy, the availability of food, a milder climate, which has a strong impact on the physiology of animals in tropical environments. Different species can actually invest more energy in color because there is more abundance and the physiological cost of being very colorful is reduced." Whatever the evolutionary advantage, animals' color is inextricably intertwined with their environment, be it the bright birds of the rainforest or the dull silver fish of the deep sea. And the complex and diverse tropical ecosystem provides the perfect blend of competition and natural resources to support a fantastic explosion of vibrant color.
Miami Herald
04-04-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
Reef predator — with ‘electric blue' lines — found as new species off Mexico
On a remote reef about 90 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, a predatory fish scours the shallow seafloor. Research divers spotted the 3.5-inch-long animals during recent survey trips to the cays of Campeche Bank and used pole spears to reel them in, according to a study published April 4 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. The fish belonged to a family called hamlets, a group that has proven difficult to study. 'These fish are interesting for many reasons, one of which is that they are very similar genetically. Different species of hamlet look different (they have different color patterns) and they tend to mate only with members of the same species, yet genetically they are very, very similar,' study author Oscar Puebla told Smithsonian Insider in a 2017 interview about his work. The fish, originally collected in 2018, looked similar to two known species, as is often the cause for hamlets, researchers said. But a few key features stood out to the researchers, and a genetic test confirmed their suspicions — it's a species new to science. Hypoplectrus espinosai, or the Campeche Bank hamlet, can be distinguished from other species by its coloration, according to the study. 'The body color ranges from white to pale grayish-white to pale brownish-white with (about) 15 vertical whitish to pale bluish-white lines that extend from the top of the body profile to near the bottom,' researchers said. The fish have white faces with a black blotch in front of the eyes, according to the study. The black patch is 'surrounded by electric blue lines that extend onto the forehead, around the eye and onto the lower jaw.' The back of the fish has a black 'saddle' that is larger than other related species, researchers said. 'We assign the species name espinosai sp. Nov. in honor of Héctor Salvador Espinosa Pérez (1954-2022), a dedicated Mexican ichthyologist, founder of the Mexican Ichthyological Society and curator of the Mexican National Fish Collection,' researchers said. 'The common name refers to the geographic distribution of the species.' Though the fish is known to be predatory, researchers didn't observe any attack behavior while surveying the new species, according to the study. 'Hamlets are predators that prey on smaller fish and invertebrates. Through aggressive mimicry, the hamlets (the mimics) could have evolved color patterns that look like other herbivorous or omnivorous fish species (the models),' Puebla told the Smithsonian Insider. 'It's the 'wolf in sheep's clothing' trick. It allows hamlets to approach prey without alarm because they look like a harmless herbivore.' A video depicting a golden hamlet swimming to meet up with its mate was shared by The Royal Society in 2011 to accompany one of Puebla's previous publications. The new species was identified off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The body of water was renamed as the Gulf of America by executive order on Jan. 20 by President Donald Trump, however this change is not recognized outside the United States. The research team includes Puebla, Alfonso Aguilar-Perera, Matin Helmkampf, D. Ross Robertson, Carlos J. Estapé, Allison Morgan Estapé and Omar Domínguez-Domínguez.
