In my dating life, I more than once found myself on a date with someone who I remember quite fondly as an impressive set of genitals with a superfluous man attached.
Which reminds me of this sea monster.
Today’s Moment of Science… The mating ritual of the anglerfish.
In the bathypelagic zone between 1,000m and 4,000m below sea level where no light penetrates, existence treads at a consistent, chilling 4-5 degrees Celsius. A few hundred million years of complex species evolving in this watery hell has gifted life with new and amazing glowy things in the name of survival. Give or take three out of every four critters in the pelagic zone, i.e. the open ocean above the sea floor, is bioluminescent.
In the case of this dreamy nightmare, only the female anglerfish will help you see the light. Hanging over their head is a built-in fishing pole, or illicium, with a lure full of glowing bacteria at the end. This serves a few purposes; it both draws in prey and helps signal to males “I’m sixty times your size and I still have room for you on the side of my abdomen… fellas.”
Depending on the species, females can grow up to about a meter long, while males only get up to a few centimeters. When a male stumbles across a female in this abyss typically by following his well developed sense of smell to her pheromones, he does the only thing he possibly can; hangs on for dear life. With his teeth.
When the male bites, an enzyme is released that dissolves their skin, allowing them to fuse. Their circulatory systems merge, with the female’s diet now providing fuel for her lover/parasite. In some species, the female can support up to eight bootie calls at a time, continually supporting them to be ready whenever she’s in the mood to fertilize some deeply upsetting caviar. My band name.
“But Mrs. Auntie SciBabe,” I hear you wonder into the deep blue ocean, “how do two critters merge outside of a Cronenberg movie without some organ rejection shenanigans?”
Right you are to ask, but bet there’s shenanigans. Most species have immune systems that create T-cells, specially designed to recognize the difference between ‘you’ and ‘non-you’ cells. The genes responsible for making T-cells and functional antibodies are no longer active in the more, uh, slutty anglerfish species. Species that just attach to one mate had some of these genetic changes, and those that attach reversibly can still mount an antibody response.
Given that almost all vertebrates have this type of adaptive immunity, this is still a bit of a head scratcher. How is it surviving without being able to make T-cells? Apparently just fine, so what the fuck do we know?
Though no organs are rejected, not everything makes the cut. Males lose quite a bit of themselves in this most delicate of reproductive tradeoffs. The price for parasitism can mean being reduced to their most necessary bits, becoming little more than gills and testicles.
When contacted for comment, the male anglerfish said “don’t care, had sex.”
This has been your Moment of Science, suggesting that the next parody of Jordan Peterson utilizes the anglerfish in place of the lobster.
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