At birth, male ceratioids are already equipped with extremely well-developed olfactory organs[4] that detect scents in the water. The male ceratioid lives solely to find and mate with a female. They are significantly smaller than a female angler fish, and may have trouble finding food in the deep sea. Furthermore, the growth of the alimentary canals of some males becomes stunted, preventing them from feeding.[4] These features necessitate his quickly finding a female anglerfish to prevent death. The sensitive olfactory organs help the male to detect the pheromones that signal the proximity of a female anglerfish. When he finds a female, he bites into her skin, and releases an enzyme that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level.[4] The male then slowly atrophies, first losing his digestive organs, then his brain, heart, and eyes, and ends as nothing more than a pair of gonads[5], which release sperm in response to hormones in the female's bloodstream indicating egg release. This extreme sexual dimorphism ensures that, when the female is ready to spawn, she has a mate immediately available.[6] Multiple males can be incorporated into a single female.
Re: this should be the fate of all males everywhere
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this should be the fate of all males everywhere
(Anonymous) 2012-04-18 04:58 am (UTC)(link)Re: this should be the fate of all males everywhere
Re: this should be the fate of all males everywhere
(Anonymous) 2012-04-18 04:59 am (UTC)(link)