Here, have this portrait of a #sturddlefish ! What is a sturddlefish, you may ask?
Well, it’s the product of an interspecific hybridization not thought to be possible - and yet it exists, as if to spite us for our preconceived notions.
And here we have the unlikely #sturddlefish progenitors - the Russian #sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii and the American #paddlefish, Polyodon spathula.
What is notable about these two lovely species is that they happened to diverge over 180 million years ago!
For reference, human beings and mice last shared a common ancestor around 90 million years ago.
... and lastly, here is a comparative diagram depicting the evolutionary relationship between humans and mice to that of the sturddlefish progenitors to drive the point home!
IRL I used to study plants, which undergo whole genome duplications and interspecific hybridizations like they have nothing better to do, but even for plant standards, the sturddlefish hybridization is pretty "out there".
Okay, this is actually my last post for real this time - just thought I'd add that if you've ever wanted to have a sturddlefish printed onto a pillow, or possibly stick one onto your laptop, my Redbubble store might be of interest to you:
