Jessica Eggers - Sexual parasitism in the Triplewart seadevil

Nombre y apellidos: Jessica Eggers
Web: https://www.jessieggers.com

Redes sociales: https://www.instagram.com/roughforradio/

País: South Africa 

Título: Sexual parasitism in the Triplewart seadevil - Cryptopsaras couesii

Descripción: The Triplewart seadevil (Cryptopsaras couesii) shows one of the most extreme examples of sexual dimorphism and sexual parasitism in the animal kingdom. After morphing from their larval stage, C.couesii males and females develop quite differently, with males having good swimming function, strong jaws and large eyes (1. and 2.). The female develops an esca and grows larger, while the male remains small. When a male finds a female in early development he attaches to her, biting into her side, close to her ovaries (3. and 4.). He remains attached to her and most of his organs apart from his gonads deteriorate. The difference in size becomes marked, with standard length of mature females often being more than 25 times larger than that of the male. At this point, the males and females circulatory systems are fused as the male supplies the female with sperm to fertilize her eggs, while the female supplies the male with all nutrients (5. and 6.).

Categoría: Ilustración científica

Técnica: Pen and ink, digital editing
Inteligencia artificial: No
Tamaño: 42,0 x 59,4
Año: 2023