Let me share...

I have been asked to explain this picture in terms of what I learned in chapter six of Survival of the Fittest. This color pattern was caused by a mutation. Mutations were originally thought of as random bumps in the human race, unrelated to genes, until a man discovered that mutations are constantly happening and will usually either have a harmful effect or no effect at all. In some rare cases, a random mutations will provide an advantage that will better the organisms change to survive and thrive. In the case of this flower, this mutations was most likely harmless, simply for visual appeal, but it is possible that this mutations is helpful.

I was asked to do the same with this photo, but instead using my knowledge from chapter three of My Inner Fish. I have concluded that this is directly at fault of an extra skin tissue with extra of the ZPA gene. The ZPA gene contains the blueprint for finger development for many species, and with too much, as shown in this picture, extra limbs can develop.

Your Inner Fish: Handy Jeans

This chapter.
It was quite interesting chapter. It pretty much just spoke about finding one gene consistent in all animals with limbs. DNA lies the same for different species, but there are genetic switched that turn on and off specific genes during development. Some species have a gene that is turned on while others have it off. Nowadays, experimenters have tried to see if they can turn on some of these genetic switches themselves. They worked with chicken eggs and found that they created another wing by taking a little piece of pinky tissue and moving it to the pointer finger. They then began working with flies. They found a gene that separated the head and wings that was very similar to the one found in chickens. They named this gene "sonic hedgehog".

They found that every limbed animal have this "sonic hedgehog" gene active. They tested it with many other animals and found that they all contained this same gene, all turned on.

ps. i can spell genes. the title was, although without reason, intentionally spelled that way.