Guppy

"Guppies live about two years. Breeders have developed multitudes of fin colors and patterns. Many clubs breed what they believe are excellent specimens and then hold guppy shows to display them."

"The guppy, Poecilia reticulata, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish. It is found in every continent apart from Antarctica and its range continues to be extended, both through the pet trade and as a means of controlling malarial mosquitoes. Guppies occur in some unlikely locations, such as the Moscow sewage works (Zhuikov 1993) and the in Essex in England (Maitland and Campbell 1992; but see Wheeler et al. 2004), where they can survive because heated effluent maintains the water temperature at tropical levels. Guppies were even sent into space aboard the . This spectacular dispersal, much of it human assisted and not all of it beneficial to the native fish communities into which guppies are introduced ..., illustrates the adaptability of the species. However, it is the ability of guppies to thrive in different ecological communities and environmental conditions within their natural range of NE , and in in particular, that has proved particularly fruitful in testing key evolutionary theories."

"Before a faculty meeting, talking again with the expert on guppy menopause. What do biologists make of the question, Does color exist? I ask. Duh, he says. A male guppy looking for a mate doesn’t worry about whether color exists, he says. A male guppy only cares about being orange, in order to attract one. But can it really be said that the guppy cares about being orange? I ask. No, he admits. The male guppy simply is orange. Why orange? I ask. He shrugs. In the face of some questions, he says, biologists can only vacate the field."