cuddlefishery
went to a lecture on the color patters of cuttlefish and octopi last night
fun story about the cuttlefish: cuttle fish have a very short life span and thus only have one chance to make it to the mating grounds. when they do, all of the males fight over the females,the biggest of which usually win the battle. the smaller male cuttlefish however have figured out a trick. they ball themselves up and change their color patterns to look like a pregnant cuttlefish lady, ie they cross dress. they then sneak over to the females while the big male is fighting off other big males and mate with them in secret. the kicker though is that when the lady cuttlefish goes to fertilize her egg and has a choice of all of the cuttle fish she has recently mated with, she chooses not the sperm of the brute males, but instead the sperm of the "cross dressing" smaller male.
fun story about the cuttlefish: cuttle fish have a very short life span and thus only have one chance to make it to the mating grounds. when they do, all of the males fight over the females,the biggest of which usually win the battle. the smaller male cuttlefish however have figured out a trick. they ball themselves up and change their color patterns to look like a pregnant cuttlefish lady, ie they cross dress. they then sneak over to the females while the big male is fighting off other big males and mate with them in secret. the kicker though is that when the lady cuttlefish goes to fertilize her egg and has a choice of all of the cuttle fish she has recently mated with, she chooses not the sperm of the brute males, but instead the sperm of the "cross dressing" smaller male.