In science class we have began our toothpick fish project. We had to randomly pick and form pairs of fish alleles and the color of the fish were based on those alleles. Fish in our pond had four possible trait color which were green, red, yellow, and orange. Green was dominant (G) to red (r) and yellow (y) however red and yellow (ry) were incomplete therefore the color of the fish who had those genotype would be orange. In addition, that meant that yellow and red were recessive to green. Recessive means the traits are there but it is not shown. Dominant is the exact opposite. Dominant traits show their appearances. A fish would be green if their genotype was "GG, Gy," or "Gy". A fish would be yellow if their genotype was "yy" and the genotype for red fish would be "rr"
Genotypes of fish Key
Genotype Green = G
Color Yellow = y
Green GG Gr Gy Red = r
Red rr
Yellow yy
Orange ry
Also, when we pulled the fish alleles pairs out we organized them into four generations based on when the fish were created. The first generation started of with twelve(12) fish but in the second generation the population lowered to nine(9) because the yellow fish were unable to adapt to their surroundings therefore they died sooner than others. Adaptation is how an organism interacts with their surrounding. Furthermore, the third and fourth generation of fish both also stayed at the population of nine because there was a less chance of yellow fish to be formed.
Here are the total number of each color offspring in each generation:
Result of Fish
Environment Generation Green Red Yellow Orange
Lots of First 7 2 3 0
seaweed Second 6 2 0 1
and Algae Third 7 1 0 1
everywhere Fourth 6 2 1 0
NO seaweed
or Algae Survivors 4 2 1 0
Throughout the four generation the main way the fish were able to survive were because there was a large amount of seaweed and algae. In addition, the green, red and orange fish were able to camouflage in with the algae therefore predators were not able to find them. However, that kept the yellow fish wide open in the environment open to all the hungry predators which decreased the yellow fish population. But what would happen if a disaster happened in the pond and all green fish died because they were unable to adapt.
Rocks and soil have entered the pond therefore hiding the yellow, red, and orange fish however exposing the green. Therefore, the green fish died which again lowered the population. The population has now lowered to seven. With the green fish gone we have declared our survivors. Also the disappearance of green fish also effected the way of life in the pond. Without the green fish the population will increase greatly because now most of the fish in the pond will be yellow, red or orange since there are not many green alleles left.
Q: What would happen if the population of red fish and alleles completely disappeared due to another natural disaster and the green fish were still exposed to the predators
A: If the red fish and alleles completely disappeared than the only two color fish would be green and yellow. Therefore, when the green fish are created they would be most likely eaten and the whole population of green fish would be gone.
In conclusion, the fish population decreased from the first generation to the last due to the change in the pond habitat. Some colored fish were not able to adapt therefore they were not able to survive.
