There has been several topics lately that discuss centrarchid hybrids. Attached is a PDF of our recent study that uses centrarchid hybrids in an attempt to understand the evolutionary mechanisms of speciation. Our focus is on post-mating (pre-zygotic) isolation, and we are interested how genetic differences that prevent viable or fit hybrids accumulate in lineages. This research has broad applications to many different groups of plants and animals.
In this paper we find a very interesting pattern that may explain observed assymmetry of hybrid viability in some between species crosses.
This paper illustrates our goals of bringing North American fishes to the attention of a broad community of evolutionary biologists, with the hope of developing centrarchids as a model system to understand the mechanisms of speciation.
Tom Near