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From: jpexg@mit-hermes.AI.MIT.EDU (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: An All Female Species of Fish!
Message-ID: <2837@mit-hermes.AI.MIT.EDU>
Date: Sat, 18-Apr-87 23:01:01 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2837
Posted: Sat Apr 18 23:01:01 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Apr-87 17:37:29 EST
References: <1055@thebes.UUCP>
Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 15
Keywords: you probably saw it here first
Summary: How does the species retain its uniformity?

In article <1055@thebes.UUCP>, greenber@swatsun (Peter Greenberg) writes:
> There is a species of fish, known as the Amazon molly, inhabiting the
> sluggish waters of northeastern Mexico, which perpetuates itself without
> benefit of males.....


If this is the species' method of reproduction (essentially, cloning of
female individuals) how does the species retain its identity? I would have
expected that each individual would pass on mutations to its descendants,
and since each fish has only one chain of ancestors (its mother, grandmother,
etc) the species would inevitably break up into many diverging strains. 

When I was a kid my brother had a collection of stick insects, which seemed
able to reproduce optionally without male input (ie, a lone insect seemed
able to lay fertile eggs). Is this likely?