Ecological adaptations of fish

Another manifestation of the phenomenon of ecological adaptation of an organism is that it imitates another organism in terms of shape, behavior and other characteristics to obtain benefits. The body color patterns of many fish are closely related to their adaptation to the environment. Fish, like other animals, have colors and patterns that hide themselves from predators and avoid enemies. The angel fish that lives among aquatic plants has a number of dark black stripes on its thin and slightly rounded body, making its body color like the stems of aquatic plants. When it hangs in the water for a long time, it looks like aquatic plants. The colors blend together.

Fish living in tropical coral reefs have a variety of richly colored patterns, which blur the boundaries between them and the coral reefs. The mimicry of the leaf seahorse is more complete. The outline of the body has many spine-like or mold-like protrusions, and some protrusions turn into leaf-like flat bodies. When unfolded in the water, they look exactly like a piece of seaweed. There are many membranous branches on the body of the shark or angler, and the shape of the body is similar to a rock surrounded by seaweed. The mimicking feature of the flatfish is that it has a strong ability to change body color. When it is in a certain position When the bottom layer of the environment changes, its body color also changes rapidly, making its body color consistent with the color of the water bottom.

In addition to changes in body color, the adaptive activities of fish that can be detected from the outside are also reflected in their movement patterns, static postures, display of body marks, and vocalizations. Behavioral adaptation is more obvious in higher vertebrates, but in fish, it is relatively weak in adapting to environmental conditions.

The adaptability of fish is closely related to environmental conditions. In the tropics, the environment is relatively stable, food sources are abundant, and interspecific competition is fierce; while in high latitudes, the environment changes significantly with seasonal changes, especially in the cold winter, when food sources Scarce, competition is much weaker. Facing different environments, various fish species have developed a variety of ecological strategies: some are born early, give birth frequently, are small, have short lifespans, and have large population fluctuations. A climate disaster can cause a large number of deaths, but their fecundity is strong and their populations They can return to a certain number in a short period of time; some have late births, few births, large bodies, long lifespans, and stable population numbers. Some can withstand more abnormal environmental conditions, such as deterioration of water quality, food shortages, etc.; others have enhanced their ability to access resources and developed various competition mechanisms, including attack and defense structures and behaviors.

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