Relaxed selective constraints drove functional modifications in peripheral photoreception of the cavefish P. andruzzii and provide insight into the time of cave colonization.

Abstract excerpt

The genetic basis of phenotypic changes in extreme environments is a key but rather unexplored topic in animal evolution. Here we provide an exemplar case of evolution by relaxed selection in the Somalian cavefish Phreatichthys andruzzii that has evolved in the complete absence of light for at least 2.8 million years. This has resulted in extreme degenerative phenotypes, including complete eye loss and partial...

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