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I was just listening to eons in my car and specifically the episode about armored fish, and the thought occurred to me: isn't evolution ultimately selecting for adaptability? (m.youtube.com)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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It would seem the design that can survive the most extinctions would be the clear winner in the end.

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[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

How does being albino automatically mean being eaten (assuming we rule out species that need camouflage)?

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 6 points 10 months ago

First, the vast majority of species depend on camouflage at least somewhat, since there are very few species that are neither predator nor prey. Also, albinism prevents your skin from properly protecting you from the sun. So even then, it is selected against. As other have pointed out though, caves don’t have either of these forces at play—the darkness makes visual camouflage irrelevant and there is no UV light. So there, as you predicted, most species are albino.