‘Drainfish’ have contributed to the global scientific community by their results in many areas of biology. Trinidad and Tobago’s humble guppy (Poecilia Reticulata) is a notorious invasives species out of its natural habitat. A new study in the prestigious journal, Ecology, was able to determine that the guppies can damage ecosystems but not in Florida.
Lead by Dr. Quenton Tuckett from the University of Florida’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory and Dr. Amy Deacon of the University of the West Indies- Dept. of Life Sciences, a team was sent to solve the mystery of the guppies.
The team observed Florida’s native species the mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) attack the guppies. Their finding proved an ecological theory: two species that prey upon each other are unlikely to be able to coexist for very long as one will as always have the edge and eventually force the other out.
Sources: https://tt.loopnews.com/content/tt-florida-researchers-investigate-floridas-missing-guppies