The cichlid fish of Africa's Great Lakes have formed new species more rapidly than any other group of vertebrates. A new study shows that the ease with which these fish can develop a biological ...

Exocoetid flying fish face one of nature’s most punishing survival puzzles: they launch themselves out of the ocean to dodge predators below, only to be snatched mid-air by seabirds above.

A fish thought to be evolution’s time capsule just surprised scientists. A detailed dissection of the coelacanth — a 400-million-year-old species often called a “living fossil” — revealed that key ...

A study published in the Nature journal alters how the evolution of fish has been historically understood. Fossilized fish and other sea creatures have often been pivotal in new scientific discoveries ...

Two new studies add to the evidence that human activity, from fishing to urban development, is driving the evolution of wild animals. By Emily Anthes Call it the case of the incredible shrinking cod.

Fossils over 300 million years old reveal the evolution of a tongue bite in an ancient group of deep-bodied ray-finned fishes, such as Platysomus parvulus. Experts have uncovered the earliest known ...

Why does a Caribbean angelfish sometimes resemble its Indo-Pacific cousin, even though they have never lived in the same ocean? Why do coral reefs harbor such a wide range of stripes, spots and ...

The genetic underpinnings of pigmentation and colour patterning in fish encompass a complex interplay of gene regulation, cell fate determination and evolutionary innovation. Neural crest cells, which ...

It's not what you do, it's how readily you do it. Rapid evolutionary change might have more to do with how easily a key innovation can be gained or lost rather than with the innovation itself, ...