Toothpick Fish

When examining alleles in a fish population, camouflage comes into deep help. To start off, the first generation of the gene pool started out with two heterozygous pairs of green and red, two homozygous pairs of yellow, one homozygous red, four orange, and three homozygous green. When all mated, the total number of color of offspring in the first generation was 41.5% green, 8.3% red, 16.6% yellow, and 33.2% orange. Sadly, because the yellow fish could not adapt in this gene pool, they died; that decreasing the population by 16.6%. During the second generation, the total number of color of the offspring was 70% green, 10% red, 0% yellow, and 20% orange. Next, in the third generation, the total number of color of offspring was 60% green, 0% red, 0% yellow, and 40% orange. As seen over time, the color of offspring decreased except for the green— because its allele is dominant—thus making its population increase. When the fourth generation came about, the offspring of green, increased to 80%, orange decreasing to 20%, and red and yellow stayed as 0%.

During the fourth generation, a disaster occurred. Factory waste was dumped into the gene pool, killing many seaweed and algae. The sand and rocks helped the red, yellow, and orange fish in camouflaging, while the green were easily seen and eaten. Now the only survivors are the 20% orange fish, while all the green died. The disaster shows that either human or natural causes can kill many organisms in any environment. If the environment changed in any way, it could change what happens to the organisms who are adapting to it. For instance if the waste from the factory, changed the color of the sand, seaweed, and algae, that can cause not only green fish to die, but many other colors of fish. As seen, camouflage can help many organisms in adapting and surviving, while many others can be eaten by their predators.