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.
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.
I this quote from Drs. Kelly and Orbach in this Discover Magazine article really sums harbor porpoises up well:
“An erect harbor porpoise penis goes up to its chin — or, where its chin would be, if it were not a marine mammal,” Kelly said. And their vaginas are the most complex of the four, with “a whole bunch of spiraling folds,” Orbach explained, “which just keep twisting around … a little bit like a corkscrew.”
But these journal articles are also really interesting reads (and they’re both open access, I believe).
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.
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.
Other references: Woods, Anne. REPRODUCTION & LIFE CYCLE OF SEA SPIDERS. Pets on Mom.com. https://animals.mom.com/spiders-reproduce-live-birth-eggs-7404.html Accessed 11/20/2020.
Image reference: Bernard Picton, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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.
References:
Austin, C.R., Austin, C.R. and Short, R.V. eds., 1986. Reproduction in Mammals. Cambridge University Press.
Böhm, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
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.
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.
References: Klimley, A.P., 2013. The biology of sharks and rays. University of Chicago Press.
By Linda Snook / MBNMS – http://www.mbnms-simon.org/other/photos/photo_info.php?photoID=1307, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1935773
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.
Reference: Michiels, N., Newman, L. Sex and violence in hermaphrodites. Nature 391, 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.
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.
birdoptera 