"SHOCKING CONVERGENCE: Two groups of South American and African electric fish, whose lineages diverged 200 million years ago, independently evolved similar ways to generate electricity, according to a new study. In a paper published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report that both groups converted existing sodium channel proteins used for muscle contraction into sodium channels that can generate electricity. Pictured above are Eigenmannia virescens from the Amazon (top) and Brienomyrus vadamans from Africa."So, two different fish take the same evolutionary path to the same end. It makes me wonder just how random evolution may be. Thoughts?
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I suspect what we are seeing is the whispy trail of the "underlying" patterns of meta-forms...like pixy dust (the real world, as it is currently evolving) thrown on top of an otherwise invisible tapestry. Or, in more conventional language, particular exemplars of evolution show us traces of the fitness landscape. It may not be quite as "big" (in n-dim space) as we intutively imagine it to be...may also have significant repurcussions for exobiology (though that will include additional factors that will both expand and shrink the exo-landscape compared to our terrestrial one).
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