When 2 Become 1

For you and I, when we're attracted to someone - be it mentally, physically or just plain sexually - we would zoom in on that person and forget about anybody else while we focus on our love interest. After a period of courting, that's when both the couples would proceed to make a decision to get married (or not) so that you can continue the human need for procreation. 

Love. Some people are so in love with each other they seem to be fused together. They seem to be able to read each other's minds. One don't need to finish a sentence because the other will finish it. But then again, how close is close? You can only seem to be "fused" together but you're not, well, literally fused into 1 right? But today, I would like to write about something I think is really cool. Something most of you probably didn't know, and honestly I didn't too until I read it in another person's blog.

Anglerfish

Anglerfish are the members of the order Lophiiformes which can be found in both the deep sea and continental shelf. The ones that live in open water are more laterally compressed while the ones living in bottom-dwelling fishes are more dorsoventrally compressed with large upwards pointing mouths (like the photo above).

Okay, that is a one ugly mother. And I call it a "mother" because it is a female. All types of Anglerfish that you can find in the sea that looks pretty much like the above are females. So, you ask me, where have all the males gone? Or is this type of fish asexual? Well, not exactly. And here's the cool part.

The deep sea Anglerfish males usually mature soon after metamorphosis whereas the females takes longer. One estimates that there are about 15 to 30 ripe males to every female, probably due to the difficulty in finding mates in the enormous sea. The males are also smaller in size compared to the females for example females of the Genus Gigantactis can grow to 40cm in length and its male only grow to 2cm. 

When male Anglerfishes were born, their only role was to search out for a female (how romantic is that?). The males have no bioluminescent lure, they have larger eyes which probably is to spot the female's lure and have much larger olfactory organ in front of their eyes. They have high sensitivity to the female's pheromones and can search for the females for miles even. The reason for that is because due to their small size, they are highly dependent on the females for safety.

Now once a male Anglerfish locates a female, the small male attaches himself to her by biting into her belly. After a few days, his teeth and jaw recedes, his skin fuses with the female's and their blood systems merge. Everything about the male regresses except for the one important internal organ which is its large testis. The female now do not have to worry because she is guaranteed with supply of sperms for when she's ready to reproduce while the male is now taken care of for life. Now due to the large size of the female in comparison to the male and also because of surviving needs, a female Anglerfish may have more than one male attached to her.

Finding Nemo

So, do you find it cool? I do. And if you need to understand more on the mating process, do view this video.