From the hypothesis, it is evident that the research point of interest is on the presence of actin and myosin in different fish species. The results show that the two saltwater fish, which are the salmon and cod species, did not have the targeted proteins. Saltwater contains a high percentage of dissolved substances, with the earth’s seawater having an average of 3.5% salinity (Gordon, 2017). In contrast, the freshwater bodies have an average salinity of 0.05% due to less dissolved substances. Saltwater is, therefore, denser than freshwater. With that in mind, it is a known fact that denser water increases buoyancy. The buoyancy helps streamlining the fish further and, therefore, lesser friction while gliding through water (Davis, 2019). The saltwater fish, therefore, needs smaller strokes to slip further than their freshwater counterparts.
Therefore, the freshwater fish needs more massive and more complex muscles as an adaptation. The need for larger muscles stimulates the adaptive features in the fish to synthesize more actin and myosin. The actin and myosin are directly responsible for movement (In Ryall, 2017), meaning that the enormous load that would have existed in swimming is made less strenuous. Therefore, the data collected supports the hypothesis that freshwater fish have more actin and myosin proteins in their muscles than saltwater fish.
Sources of error that might exist are the catfish showing the presence of actin and myosin. Catfish are known to be laid and hatched in freshwater before spending the rest of their lives in saltwater (Davis, 2019). They might still have the adaptations of freshwater fish at the early stages of their lives.
The experiment goes on to prove the theories of evolution and adaptation that have been areas of controversy in the past few years. It goes on to show that specialization and change in physical attributes may occur due to the environment that an organism is exposed to with time. The experiment is also in agreement with the previous studies that had been conducted before, as seen by the results.