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8 <br />about its possible general significance. Given the small scale <br />of such systems, the speed-of evolution, and the pressing need to <br />be closely tuned to an extreme environment, the adaptiveness of <br />behavior ought to be more apparent. One would hope that we could <br />proceed more efficiently there to derive important <br />generalizations about mating systems as adaptations to the <br />environment. <br />That might lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms <br />underlying social behavior, in particular, that of aggression <br />because its expression any control is so crucial in the <br />interaction of animals. There is no question in my mind but that <br />the single most frightening malady besetting mankind is our <br />failure to come to grips with aggression, whether at the level of <br />local vandalism or war. This may seem a far cry from studying <br />desert fishes, but in the final analysis everything we learn <br />about the world around us has a message for us. <br />If nothing else, what we learn about those fishes makes us <br />ask, if only by analogy, whether the same questions ought to be <br />put to human behavior. Then we could seek the answers as best we <br />can. It is the asking of the question, not the findings <br />themselves, that is important. Charles Darwin said, in effect, <br />that certain discoveries evaded him for years because he never <br />asked the right question. Once he did, the solution was <br />relatively simple. The study of desert fishes may hold some <br />surprising questions for us.