The Disposable Penis...a True Biological Story
Sea slug carries disposable penis, plus spares | Life | Science News
Every man just winced in pain when reading this, but what about the females...a barbed penis? Biology is amazing. The need to breed would have to be overwhelming to undergo those processes.
Every man just winced in pain when reading this, but what about the females...a barbed penis? Biology is amazing. The need to breed would have to be overwhelming to undergo those processes.
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| Chromodoris reticulata sea slug |
Holy crap! (can I say crap? I just said crap!) Anyways wow, there are so many thoughts that come to mind when I think about what I just read. Well, let me start off by highlighting the amount of effort that was required to get to this article in the first place. The stupid SEU block deemed this article “inappropriate.” However, seeing as we are all scientists here I think it was more than appropriate for our field of study not to mention extremely fascinating. I liked how one of the researchers compared the mechanism of the penis to a retractable lead pencil. Thanks for the visual! lol One of the questions that came to mind was what happens after all of the spare penises have been used? Is the sea slug sterile now? What about the poor female! As a female I feel like it is only fair for me to stand in the gap for all of the female sea slugs out there and say, “We are women, and we will take one of the team!” Ok, ok, but on a more serious note. I would be curious to learn how efficiently the barbs are at “removing competing sperm.” How do the barbs differentiate between the competing sperm? That’s all for now!
ReplyDeleteTo sea slugs, the penis is as disposable as a paper plate. Talk about leaving baggage behind with your partner. I couldn't read this article without cringing everything the process was described as a "tearing-off" of the penis. It is like the author (female) held some sort of grudge against male genitalia, perhaps the dominance and convenience of the sea slug sexual experience angered her. The paper was in California and the author may very well be a feminist. That's beside the point. Anyway, this article is uniquely intriguing. After more research about the nature of sea slugs, I found that since they are hermaphrodites, they actually mate together, with both sexual organs. So they technically have sex twice at the same time. Therefore, I have concluded: the seas slug's sex life is the most complicated in the world (if only tabloids would get a hold of this story). Despite what the article claims, a Japanese study said they observed the same sleazy sea slug duo do it 31 times in a row. After each round, the penises would gently fall to the sea floor, looking much like a bunch of empty bullet cartridges from a Rambo movie. However, "on rare occasions," the slugs will actually chew off each others penis. I guess, slug's date nights are also strange: take care of business, then have a nice meal. Even when they don't consume the goods, I wondered why it is that the slug has to loose his penis in the first place? It just so happens that the penis has thousands of tiny barbs that keep it from retracting and also intercept other slug's sperm. Now, if it's less painful to actually tear the penis off than try to retract it, those barbs must be huge. After more research, I found that the sea slug is not the only animal with a one-and-done penis. There are species of spiders that also detach the penis after sex, which consequently gives the male spider more stamina, making him a better fighter. This is the exact opposite of what a boxer is supposed to do the night before a fight. Sometimes, animals have it a little more convenient than us. With all the talk of rare sexual processes right before I go to church I have concluded one thing from this reading: the saying, "use it or you'll lose it," did not originate from the sea slug.
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ReplyDeleteThe biological diversity of mating is extremely interesting. I had previously read about male bees that had their penis “ripped out” after having sex with the queen bee. This article does not mention that, a large amount of male bees will compete to have sex with the queen bee. The male bees also must stick their penis into the queen bee in flight. The male bee must have strong very strong mating instincts to compete in an in-flight competition to mate with perhaps hundreds of other bees. As the article mentions, a successful male bee will lodge its penis into the queen bee, ejaculate its sperm, and die. It is interesting how this strong mating instinct is preserved. The lodged penis serves as a post mating chastity belt. The queen bee cannot mate with any other male bees while the penis is lodged inside her. I am assuming that the detachable penis of the sea slug has a similar purpose. This is the most logical explanation for the “penis barbs”. The barbs serve as a post mating chastity belt and as a method to remove sperm residue. Removing the sperm residue does not seem a likely scenario due to the lodging of the penis inside the female. However, it is likely that the barbs were first useful in removing sperm. The barbs most likely became elongated and pointed until eventually they were too difficult to remove. This led to the penis reservoir and penis extension abilities. This is only my theory of how these strange mating habits were developed.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess this is one way to avoid transferring STDs. After researching the sea slugs (Chromodoris reticulata) some more, I found that their penis falls off immediately after sex and not only do they loose the entire outside but they also loose about 1/3 of the internal penis length. Despite going through a sudden loss, Chromodoris reticulata’s penis is typically able to grow back by the next day, and is even able to grow to the original size. Chromodoris reticulata has sex about once a day but has been observed to have sex three times in a day. Chromodoris reticulata is a hermaphrodite. This means that they have both male and female reproductive parts. When mating, both males will insert their disposable penis into the other slug’s vagina, release sperm, then both swim away loosing their penis’ in the water. If one slug’s penis has not yet grown back from previous mating, but they wanted to mate with another slug, they would still mate, but only portray themselves as the female in the mating. It has also been observed that Chromodoris reticulata’s penis has tiny barbs or spines on the tip of its penis, which is most likely there to try to remove competing sperm, raising the chances of passing on its genetic material. I think that this is a very efficient way to reproduce. If you have two slugs that mate together and both are impregnated at the same time, then you will have more offspring in a smaller amount of time. I’m not really sure what the purpose of growing a new penis is everyday though. I think one reason could be that if the barbs or spines on the tip of the penis do in fact trap competitors sperm, a slug wouldn’t want to mate with another slug immediately after with the same penis because their could be a chance of impregnating a slug with the competitors sperm.
ReplyDeleteWow. I am a little speechless. Scientists continually amaze me with the new discoveries they make, and don't get me started on God and his endless creativity in designing these things. I mean just reading previous comments and seeing how people tried to explain why the sea slug might have this ability. It doesn't even...I can't even... Again, wow!
ReplyDeleteBut what really got me was going through some of the links Anastasia posted and seeing the different varieties of sexual organs. All for the same function, but adapted to many living environments and lifespans. How does God come up with these things??? When finding a novel technique for one capstone project feels like the feat of a lifetime to me. It's at times like these that I appreciate God even more. I am in awe of his power and creativity and his ability to fashion a world so varied, and yet so entwined and functional from absolutely nothing. Again, WOW.