h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Weirder than weird. These ugly fish live deep in the Atlantic & Antarctic oceans. The (sometiems luminous) spine of their dorsal fin acts as a fishing rod with a fleshy bait at the end to attract other fish for it to eat.

Weirder still: females can grow to 47 inches long but the males never grow longer than 2.5 inches. The males live as parasites on the females - attaching themselves to the female's body by biting. His mouth fuses with her skin and the bloodstreams of both become connected. He gets all his nourishment from the female. He slowly begins to degenerate - his eyes wither and then he loses them entirely, his internal organs disappear and eventually he becomes nothing more than a source of sperm.

phew!

Love makes the male Angler fish lose their brain.
However, I would not think they should be called parasites, since their "behaviour" brings mutual advantages (or is an embryo a parasite) ?

A729551 - Electronic Combat in Wildlife



There's also an entry coming up about what bats do with their ears (but at the moment it's still in concept phase on my hard drive)



Bossel

Well, I've uploaded a draft version of A748749 - How a Bat's Sensor Works

I showed this article to my father. He said "People go to the BOTTOM OF THE SEA to prove that?!?"
The loss of non-essential organs and general tissue atrophy following marriage is not unique to the angler fish it seems.

WHOA - that made me laugh!!! Thanku for making my day

Spirit