Question

A group of small fish live in a lake with a uniformly light-brown sandy bottom. Most of the fish are light brown, but about 10% are dark gray. This fish species is often prey for large birds that live on the shore. A construction company dumps a load of gravel in the bottom of the lake, resulting in some of it being a dark grey color. What do you predict will happen to this fish population over many years?

Answer 1

Proportion of mottled fish

Explanation:

• A predator can be defined as an organism that makes the other organisms die to obtain them as food. Prey is the living being which is typically inferior and killed by the predator. Adaptation is a change in the physiology, morphology and genetic makeup of the organism which makes it suitable for survival in an unfavorable environment. Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of the organisms which exhibit better traits over the others
• The population of the mottled fish is likely to increase due to natural selection. As the mottled fish color pattern match with that of the mottled background of the bottom of the lake. This will help the mottled fishes to camouflage the predator wading birds. These mottled fishes will remain undetected from the predator wading birds. The trait of the mottled pattern will be adapted by the light sandy brown fishes and the trait will be passed on the next generation as well. Hence, the proposition of the mottled fish will increase
• Hence, the right answer is "the proportion of mottled fish will increase over time"