
Are Domestic and Wild Salmon Still the Same Species? - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/is-farmed-salmon-really-salmon
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steve19
tldr; Yes (see second last paragraph).

I suspect if you put some farm salmon back into the wild, they would, some
generations later, end up reverting back to thier wild state.

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mamon
There is a very simple scientific test whether or not two animals are the same
species: if they can breed and have fertile offspring they are the same
species, otherwise they are not. All the discussions about whether or not they
are physically similar to each other are pointless.

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TazeTSchnitzel
This is not the only measure of a species. Please read the article.

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puredemo
It's the least arbitrary and most accepted widely measure, though.

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Angostura
Unfortunately, it is hugely over simplistic. Using it you can conclude that
blackberries and raspberries are the same species and that lions and tigers
are kinda-sorta the same species, since it has been possible to get Ligers to
successfully mate with their parent species.

So regarding its characterisation as "a very simple scientific test" \- no, it
isn't.

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wmil
Polar bears and grizzlies are probably a better example. They produce fertile
offspring but no one thinks of them as the same species.

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galago
Wolves, coyotes, domestic dogs are another example that comes up in this
discussion.

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Turing_Machine
Yeah, all of those can interbreed, more or less. On the other side of the
coin, consider dogs alone. Successful breeding between Great Danes and
Chihuahuas is quite rare. :-)

The "successful breeding" metric isn't very satisfactory on any level

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billpg
Has Betteridge's law of headlines failed me?

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lugus35
"We now manage salmon’s evolution—even to the point of genetically modifying
them to grow faster."

It's not "genetic modification", it's "genetic selection", and that's what
humanity has done for all domestics species since the beginning of times.

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littletimmy
No, it is genetic modification.

Think of it as beauty modification. Breed good looking man, with good looking
woman, you select for a good looking child. On the other hand, take an ugly
child put it under a knife and through plastic surgery you modify for a
beautiful child. That's the difference between genetic modification and
genetic selection. Genetic selection has a long history, genetic modification
does not.

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corin_
Your example of plastic surgery is definitively not _genetic_ modification.
Just modification.

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littletimmy
Yes. It is called an analogy.

