Meet the Sturdlefish, the Surprising Hybrid of Two Endangered Species

What do you get when you cross an American paddlefish with a Russian sturgeon?
Scientists thought the answer would be nothing. The two endangered species, whose last common ancestor lived during the age of the dinosaurs, have been evolving separately for more than 184 million years, according to The New York Times. But when Hungarian researchers placed paddlefish sperm and sturgeon eggs together in a lab, they produced babies that combined the genes of each. Thus, the sturdlefish was born.
"I think it's pretty cool that these living fossils can still surprise us," Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, who was not part of the research, told The New York Times.
WAIT WHAT??!!! Crossing two different FAMILIES? Sturgeon x Paddlefish 🤯 https://t.co/CenvkCnm1U— Dr. Solomon David (@Dr. Solomon David)1594411397.0
The scientists, who published their findings in the journal Genes in May, had not been trying to produce a hybrid. Instead, they wanted to breed both species separately for conservation reasons.
The American paddlefish is the last paddlefish left swimming, after the Chinese paddlefish was declared extinct in January. Sturgeon, meanwhile, are the "most threatened group of animals on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species," the conservation group said.
Specifically, the scientists were trying to breed sturgeon through a process called gynogenesis, in which sperm are placed next to eggs in order to prompt them to reproduce asexually, Science Alert explained.
No DNA was supposed to mix, but it did.
"We never wanted to play around with hybridization. It was absolutely unintentional," Dr. Attila Mozsar, a study coauthor and senior research fellow at the Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Hungary, told The New York Times.
The successful hybrids surprised the scientists because previous attempts to combine the species had ended in failure, according to USA TODAY. Sturgeons are carnivores, while paddlefish are plankton-eating filter feeders with large snouts, The New York Times explained.
"This hybrid should die," study coauthor Miklós Bercsényi of the University of Pannonia told USA Today. "The embryonic development should not happen."
After it did, the researchers intentionally tried to replicate it, and saw more success. After a year, more than 100 have survived and many weigh more than six pounds.
"They grow well, they eat well," Mozsár told USA TODAY. "We keep them in a very safe place."
Some of the fish look more like their mothers with scutes, or bony scales. Others have their paddlefish fathers' snouts.
While their birth was surprising, researchers think it was possible because of the species' status as living fossils, animals like the crocodile that have not changed very much over the course of their evolution, Science Alert explained.
"These living fossil fishes have extremely slow evolutionary rates, so what might seem like a long time to us isn't quite as long of a time to them," David told The New York Times.
The sturdlefish are probably sterile, a trait shared by other hybrids like the mule, The New York Times pointed out. And the researchers don't plan to breed anymore, since they could pose a danger to wild fish. However, researchers do plan to study how sturgeon and paddlefish reproduce to see if they uncover anything that could help those species survive, Science Alert reported.
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By Kate Whiting
From Greta Thunberg to Sir David Attenborough, the headline-grabbing climate change activists and environmentalists of today are predominantly white. But like many areas of society, those whose voices are heard most often are not necessarily representative of the whole.
1. Wangari Maathai
<p>In 2004, Professor Maathai made history as the <a href="https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/Prize-winners/Prizewinner-documentation/Wangari-Maathai" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize</a> for her dedication to sustainable development, democracy and peace. She started the <a href="http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Green Belt Movement</a>, a community-based tree planting initiative that aims to reduce poverty and encourage conservation, in 1977. More than 51 million trees have been planted helping build climate resilience and empower communities, especially women and girls. Her environmental work is celebrated every year on <a href="http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/node/955" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wangari Maathai Day on 3 March</a>.</p>2. Robert Bullard
<p>Known as the 'father of environmental justice,' Dr Bullard has <a href="https://www.unep.org/championsofearth/laureates/2020/robert-bullard" target="_blank">campaigned against harmful waste</a> being dumped in predominantly Black neighborhoods in the southern states of the U.S. since the 1970s. His first book, Dumping in Dixie, highlighted the link between systemic racism and environmental oppression, showing how the descendants of slaves were exposed to higher-than-average levels of pollutants. In 1994, his work led to the signing of the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/albert-huang/20th-anniversary-president-clintons-executive-order-12898-environmental-justice" target="_blank">Executive Order on Environmental Justice</a>, which the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/" target="_blank">Biden administration is building on</a>.<br></p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7983f54726debdd824f97f9ad3bdbb87"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T_VjSGk8s18?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
Pollution has a race problem. Elizabethwarren.com
3. John Francis
<p>Helping the clean-up operation after an oil spill in San Francisco Bay in January 1971 inspired Francis to <a href="https://planetwalk.org/about-john/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stop taking motorized transport</a>. Instead, for 22 years, he walked everywhere. He also took a vow of silence that lasted 17 years, so he could listen to others. He has walked the width of the U.S. and sailed and walked through South America, earning the nickname "Planetwalker," and raising awareness of how interconnected people are with the environment.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="09b968e0e9964e31406954dcea45981d"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vgQjL23_FoU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
4. Dr. Warren Washington
<p>A meteorology and climate pioneer, Dr. Washington was one of the first people to develop atmospheric computer models in the 1960s, which have helped scientists understand climate change. These models now also incorporate the oceans and sea ice, surface water and vegetation. In 2007, the <a href="https://www.cgd.ucar.edu/pcm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Parallel Climate Model (PCM)</a> and <a href="https://www.cesm.ucar.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Earth System Model (CESM)</a>, earned Dr. Washington and his colleagues the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2007/summary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nobel Peace Prize</a>, as part of the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="09fbf6dc37f275f438a0d53ec0fe1874"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bvJ4jTy2mTk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
5. Angelou Ezeilo
<p>Huge trees and hikes to pick berries during her childhood in upstate New York inspired Ezeilo to become an environmentalist and set up the <a href="https://gyfoundation.org/staff/Angelou-Ezeilo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Greening Youth Foundation</a>, to educate future generations about the importance of preservation. Through its schools program and Youth Conservation Corps, the social enterprise provides access to nature to disadvantaged children and young people in the U.S. and West Africa. In 2019, Ezeilo published her book <em>Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders</em>, co-written by her Pulitzer Prize-winning brother Nick Chiles.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ce4547d4e5c0b9ad2927f19fd75bf4ab"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YojKMfUvJMs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
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