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from the government-grants-needed-for-further-study dept.
Evolution turned this fish into a 'penis with a heart.' Here's how.
When it comes to dating in the abyssal depths of the ocean, appearance doesn't matter much. That's fortunate for anglerfish, which resemble nightmarish fanged potatoes with a little reading lamp on top. And those are just the females.
If you've never seen a male anglerfish before, you're not missing much. Measuring just a few centimeters long on average, male anglers are a mere fraction of their partners' size, and contribute a fraction of the work to their relationships. For many anglerfish species, the male's sole responsibility is to permanently latch onto an obliging mate, fuse his circulatory system with hers, then slowly allow his eyes, fins and most of his internal organs to degenerate until he becomes what biologist Stephen Jay Gould called "a penis with a heart." The male gets constant nourishment; the female gets sperm on demand. The anglerfish circle of life spins on.
It's beautiful, we know. But this unique mating ritual — which biologists call "sexual parasitism" — has long stumped researchers. How could the female angler's immune system even allow such a permanent, parasitic union to occur?
It's a good thing humans are more evolved and don't have this style of courtship and lifetime commitment.
Journal Reference:
Jeremy B. Swann, Stephen J. Holland, Malte Petersen, et al. The immunogenetics of sexual parasitism [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz9445)
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday August 04 2020, @09:52PM
I was thinking about less mainstream stuff, we're here to improve the culture of millennials else they will repeat the mistakes of the 68
What about billy idol
I'm all out of hope
One more bad break
Could bring a fall
When I'm far from home
Don't call me on the phone
To tell me you're alone
It's easy to deceive
It's easy to tease
But hard to get release
dicks without a face
(Les dix sans visage)
dicks without a face
(Les dix sans visage)
dicks without a face
Got no human grace
You're dicks without a face
I spend so much time
Believing all the lies
To keep the dream alive
Now it makes me sad
It makes me mad at truth
For loving what was you
dicks without a face
(Les dix sans visage)
dicks without a face
(Les dix sans visage)
dicks without a face
Got no human grace
You're dicks without a face (face, face, face)
When you hear the music, you make a dip
Into someone else's pocket then make a slip
You teal a car and go to Las Vegas
Ooh, gigolo cool
Hanging out by the state line
Turning holy water into wine
Drinkin' it down, oh, oh-oh, ow
I'm on a bus on a psychedelic trip
Reading murder books, tryin' to stay hip
I'm thinkin' of you, you're out there, so
Say your prayers
Say your prayers
Say your prayers (oh)
Now I close my dicks
And I wonder why
I don't despise
Now all I can do
Love what was once
So alive in you
But it's gone from your dicks
I better realize
dicks without a face
(Les dix sans visage)
dicks without a face
(Les dix sans visage)
dicks without a face
Got no human grace
You're dicks without a face
Such a human waste
You're dicks without a face (face, face, face)
And now it's getting worse
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