This is the only way I could ever be induced to have children
It’s amazing how many articles talk about seahorse males being ‘pregnant’ and how few of them actually mention how the eggs get in there.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
This would be the good beginning of a cheesy horror movie about a women giving birth to hundreds of squid babies.
There are a lot of buzzy new articles claiming that the squid ‘impregnated’ people’s mouths, so I just thought that I would reassure you that people do not have ovaries in their mouths and that squid sperm are not compatible enough with human eggs cells to fertilize them. Just in case.
Reference: Marian, J.E.A., Shiraki, Y., Kawai, K., Kojima, S., Suzuki, Y. and Ono, K., 2012. Revisiting a medical case of “stinging” in the human oral cavity caused by ingestion of raw squid (Cephalopoda: Teuthida): new data on the functioning of squid’s spermatophores. Zoomorphology, 131(4), pp.293-301.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
What I want to know is if this makes them swim around in circles.
Reference: Fusco, G. and Minelli, A., 2019. The Biology of Reproduction. Cambridge University Press.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
My original post was kindly corrected by Dr. Bonnie Bain, who pointed out that the secretions- mainly emitted by cement glands on the femurs- the eggs were wrapped in were probably not mucus, but no one has investigated the material in depth. Dr. Bain’s paper has a lot of other interesting details about the mating of the sea spiders (pycnogonids), including some fascinating descriptions of courting behavior, and aggression between females for mates.
Bain, B.A. and Govedich, F.R., 2004. Courtship and mating behavior in the Pycnogonida (Chelicerata: Class Pycnogonida): a summary. Invertebrate reproduction & development, 46(1), pp.63-79.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
I’ve gotten conflicting info on whether or not the males desiccate only leaving their gonads behind or whether they actually thrive better than free-living males.
References: Nouvian, C., 2007. The deep. University of Chicago Press.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
I found conflicting diagrams, both from published books, on whether the fertilizing clasper is anterior or posterior to the spiny knob clasper. It might vary between species.
References: Klimley, A.P., 2013. The biology of sharks and rays. University of Chicago Press.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
Most flatworms are a little more chill about mating.
Reference: Michiels, N., Newman, L. Sex and violence in hermaphrodites. Nature391, 647 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/35527
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
I’m guessing they pheromones to find their mates, but I like to imagine a large rock covered in barnacles, little penises emerging from all of them, feeling around like long thin little fingers.
Reference: Neufeld, C.J. and Palmer, A.R., 2008. Precisely proportioned: intertidal barnacles alter penis form to suit coastal wave action. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1638), pp.1081-1087.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.
Shark sex is BRUTAL. Also, now you know sharks, skates, and rays have external genitalia, you can go to an aquarium and correct people whenever they misgender the fish. It’s a lot of fun! Probably why no one ever wants to go to an aquarium with me twice, because they can’t imagine having so much fun a second time.
References: Klimley, A.P., 2013. The biology of sharks and rays. University of Chicago Press.
Jones, C.J., Walker, T.I., Bell, J.D., Reardon, M.B., Ambrosio, C.E., Almeida, A. and Hamlett, W.C., 2005. Male genital ducts and copulatory appendages in chondrichthyans. Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Chondrichthyes: Sharks, Batoids and Chimaeras, ed. WC Hamlett, pp.361-393.
This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.