Welcome to the World, Little Fish. In 14 Days You’ll Start Making Babies.

Killifish are a family of freshwater fish that have evolved to survive in the most difficult of situations. Here in the United States, for instance, the Atlantic killifish is known for having adapted to live in heavily polluted places such as the Lower Passaic River in New Jersey.

But in small murky puddles that come after heavy rains in parts of East Africa, another killifish, called Nothobranchius furzeri, or the African annual fish, has developed its own unique adaptations to its environment. Its embryos are able to enter a state of diapause, similar to hibernation in bears, when conditions aren’t right.

It turns out that entering dormancy isn’t the only thing that’s unusual about this African killifish. In a paper published Monday in Current Biology, a team of Czech researchers report that N. furzeri has the quickest known rate of sexual maturity of any vertebrate — approximately two weeks. By studying the fish’s unusual life cycle, they hope to gain insights into the process of aging in other vertebrates, including humans.

Martin Reichard, a biologist who is studying the evolution of aging at the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Vertebrate Biology, led a team of colleagues to Mozambique to study the fish’s developmental stages in the wild. There, they were able to observe embryos buried in the sand that had entered a dormant state. They also documented their maturation after rainfall.

When N. furzeri receive cues from their environment, they can be flexible in sexual development. Under these circumstances, their embryos enter a stage of dormancy called embryonic diapause, a reproductive strategy that extends their gestational period and helps them survive unfavorable conditions, such as a dry season.

But when it rains, they undergo rapid growth, going from juvenile fish to mature adults that are able to reproduce in about two weeks.

That ability comes at the expense of the fish’s life span. They have an earlier onset of aging than other vertebrates.

“The fish display comparable cellular deterioration and changes found in aging humans after several decades,” Reichard said.

With this information, researchers found that the fish’s life cycle depends on the environment in which the embryo is laid. For example, during long periods of drought, embryos will undergo three periods of dormancy to ensure their survival.

What makes this fish’s life cycle different from other vertebrates is a trait that is commonly found in invertebrates. The embryos mimic a protective shell that is found in plant seeds, shielding them from severe conditions.

“Usually, vertebrates cope with harsh conditions during their adult stage, like bears during wintertime. However, with the embryos, it can be observed during their early developmental stages,” Reichard said.

For now, the research could contribute to the study of aging. Can understanding this species’ adaptations to its environment benefit humans by helping identify specific genetic codes unique to longevity? Or can it help pharmaceutical developers understand how drugs affect different age groups? The answer remains undiscovered.