Nature is BIZARRE (FYI)
I learned something tonight that blew my mind and so I felt the urge to share. Most of us are familiar with the deep sea anglerfish, the fish that has a light suspended from its head to lure smaller fish into reach of its massive jaws.
You know how this freak of nature reproduces? Well, the male of the species is actually real small (the size of a shotgun shell, ish). Yep thats right, the ones with the big teeth and bright lures are ALL female. The tiny male has a degenerative digestive system that ceases to function when it matures. So in order to survive, it has to find a female and bite into her side with its special teeth. Then special enzymes dissolve the males mouth and the females skin where she is bitten, and they fuse as one (blood vessels and all). The male spends the rest of its life as a parasite on the female, ready to fertilize eggs whenever the female is ready.
Crazy huh? This probably won't help you become a better man or anything, but I love learning new stuff and I found this fascinating.
You know how this freak of nature reproduces? Well, the male of the species is actually real small (the size of a shotgun shell, ish). Yep thats right, the ones with the big teeth and bright lures are ALL female. The tiny male has a degenerative digestive system that ceases to function when it matures. So in order to survive, it has to find a female and bite into her side with its special teeth. Then special enzymes dissolve the males mouth and the females skin where she is bitten, and they fuse as one (blood vessels and all). The male spends the rest of its life as a parasite on the female, ready to fertilize eggs whenever the female is ready.
Crazy huh? This probably won't help you become a better man or anything, but I love learning new stuff and I found this fascinating.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Charles Findlay on -
Try relating this story on a similar website for women and see what responses you get. Ought to be hilarious ... and you're right, that is downright freaky.
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Permalink Reply by Michael D. Denny on
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Permalink Reply by John Clanton on -
That article was fascinating!
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Permalink Reply by John Clanton on
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I'm with James on this one. Messed up.
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Permalink Reply by Michael D. Denny on
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As opposed to the oversea kingdom, which is so ordered and precise? lol
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Permalink Reply by Yankee Cowboy Bob on -
All females need to be approached with great caution.
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Permalink Reply by Paul on -
From Michael D. Denny's Link:
Flatworms:
For flatworms, sex is more like war than love. Like all sea slugs, flatworms are hermaphrodites (they have both male and female sexual organs). In this case, the male organ turns out to be two dagger-like penises that they use to hunt as well as mate. During mating, two flatworms fight (i.e. "penis fence") to stab each other, while avoiding getting stabed. The "loser" who gets stabbed will absorb the sperm through its skin and then scoots off to bear the burden of motherhood! (Source, with a cool video you shouldn’t miss.)
AND: The Whiptail Lizard
In the bizarre life of a whiptail lizard, reproduction is preceeded by pseudocopulation, where two females act out the roles of a male mounting a female (they switch roles later on). Apparently, this is required to stimulate egg production in both lizards. When the eggs hatch, they will be all-female clones of the mother lizard.
Thanks for the link Michael. But... wow. Just wow.
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Permalink Reply by Will on -
Recommended reading: Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation. Weird biology presented as advice to the lovelorn. As in: Dear Dr. Tatiana, I'm a slime mold, and I've heard my species has 15 different sexes. I don't see how I'm ever going to meet that many mates considering that I can't even move. Please help! or: Dear Dr. Tatiana, I'm a male spider, and I put myself up to a female's mouth so she could mate with me and eat me, but she wasn't interested. What am I doing wrong?
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