Male angler fish: swimming testicles (this is also kinda gross)

[IsaacC]

I'm taking a break from homework to share this with you guys. This one's gross as well as weird. I'm sure you guys will love it.

You guys know the angler fish right? You know, the big monster of a fish from Finding Nemo:

When the species was first discovered, scientists kept wondering why they only ever capture female angler fish. This is a fun fact. Every angler fish that has those shining dangly bits are female. So how do they reproduce? That's the fun part. Scientists finally noticed that each and every angler fish they caught had parasites on its skin, feeding off of the female. Like so:

Upon closer inspection, they found out that it was the male angler fish. Uhuh.

Male angler fish are the smallest in the world. A large part of their anatomy is built to contain sperm. Most of the other parts are developed to detect scents in the water, so that when they mature, they will be able to find a female. At a certain point in their life, their digestive system degenerates and they must seek out a female or else they will die.

Once they find a female, they will attach itself to her, and to quote Wiki:

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. The male then atrophies into nothing more than a pair of gonads, which releases sperm in response to hormones in the female's bloodstream indicating egg release.

They are basically swimming testicles. I'm not being crass. That's what they are. I **** you not. Poor little guy. It's only purpose in life is to provide sperm and it can't even enjoy the process when it does. Then it dies anyway. I'm just bowled over by how two genders of a species can evolve to such extremes. What would humanity be if males evolved to become just walking testes?

Although I'm pretty sure a lot of women already think that way.

[GlennM]

so the guy basically turns into an in-house sperm generator for the female?

think of all the unwanted pms he's gonna get..

ahh the things we do to spread our seed...hahahaha

[GlennM]

ahhh the things we do to spread our seed..hahaha

so the guy basically becomes an in-house sperm generator for the female? that's weirder than pregnant male seahorses.. and think of all the pms he's not gonna be able to avoid!!

[Mabie]

uhmazing... but i've met some male parasites myself before. hehe.

[Auraomega]

Poor little guy. It's only purpose in life is to provide sperm and it can't even enjoy the process when it does. Then it dies anyway.

Ever saw a praying mantis? They are sexual cannibals, the female eats the male while they copulate. First the head is removed, and the the rest of the body digested. This brings a whole new meaning to the term "Man Eater"

Although I'm pretty sure a lot of women already think that way.

And a lot of guys too, as I was reading I thought "sounds like a lot of guys I know".

-Aura

[Freshmilk]

I thought that'd be sweet, though. If we were all born with a set purpose and all acheived it, then wouldn't life be pretty awesome? Maybe they enjoy being swimming testicles, with nothign to worry about. Maybe all the male dies happy, knowing that they've acheived their goal in life. Maybe I'm just dillusional.

[kittukumar110]

Anglerfish are the members of the order Lophiiformes.[1] They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, wherein a fleshy growth from the fish's head (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure; this is considered analogous to angling