For anemonefish, sex change happens first in the brain
Neuroscientist shines new light on a natural phenomenon
The anemonefish is a gender-bending marvel. It starts out as a male, but can switch to female when circumstances allow, for example, when the only female present dies or disappears. In a new study, researchers found that the male-to-female sex-change occurs first in the fish’s brain and only later involves the gonads – sometimes after a delay of months or years.
“We discovered that when you pair two males together, they fight, and the winner becomes female,” said University of Illinois psychology professor Justin Rhodes, a behavioral neuroscientist who led the research.
Sometimes, other nonreproductive male fish are allowed to also live on the same anemone with the mating pair. If, for some reason, the female disappears, her male mate begins – almost immediately – to take on female behaviors, such as aggressively defending the nest. And the next largest male moves in to become her mate.
But, at first, the fish that is behaving like a female has a male brain and gonads. Rhodes and his colleagues wanted to know whether the transition from male to reproductively viable female began first in the brain or gonads. They set up experiments in the laboratory where they paired male anemonefish together and tracked their development. In all, they followed 17 pairs of male anemonefish.
Within minutes or hours of being put together in a tank, one of the two males emerged as dominant, and began to behave as a female would, the researchers reported.
Link->. For anemonefish, sex change happens first in the brain.
Sounds like nemo and em are living under prison rules....
Neuroscientist shines new light on a natural phenomenon
The anemonefish is a gender-bending marvel. It starts out as a male, but can switch to female when circumstances allow, for example, when the only female present dies or disappears. In a new study, researchers found that the male-to-female sex-change occurs first in the fish’s brain and only later involves the gonads – sometimes after a delay of months or years.
“We discovered that when you pair two males together, they fight, and the winner becomes female,” said University of Illinois psychology professor Justin Rhodes, a behavioral neuroscientist who led the research.
Sometimes, other nonreproductive male fish are allowed to also live on the same anemone with the mating pair. If, for some reason, the female disappears, her male mate begins – almost immediately – to take on female behaviors, such as aggressively defending the nest. And the next largest male moves in to become her mate.
But, at first, the fish that is behaving like a female has a male brain and gonads. Rhodes and his colleagues wanted to know whether the transition from male to reproductively viable female began first in the brain or gonads. They set up experiments in the laboratory where they paired male anemonefish together and tracked their development. In all, they followed 17 pairs of male anemonefish.
Within minutes or hours of being put together in a tank, one of the two males emerged as dominant, and began to behave as a female would, the researchers reported.
Link->. For anemonefish, sex change happens first in the brain.
Sounds like nemo and em are living under prison rules....