Hi
,
This is an ugly creature! It's shape and its nasty teeth make them one of the ocean's oddest curiosities. BUT, delve into their life a bit more, and you discover something that defies belief!
For many years, nobody had seen a male of a certain species of this fish. All the ones ever caught were female. On occasion, a baby would be seen clinging to one of them, and this seemed odd, too -- until it was discovered that the "baby" was actually the male! If you want to hear a horror tale, here it is!...
This creature lives very deep in the ocean. Food is scarce due to the dark and the cold. So are mates, apparently. So, the males are attracted to the females through a pheromone. The male knows exactly what to do, though it's never done it before. It isn't like the female at all. It has no teeth and basically doesn't even eat! That's not a problem, though, because he's born with a very large liver that can sustain
him for a long time.
Once he has found her, the story turns bizarre! He bites into her, and then the tissues of his body begin to "melt" as it slowly fuses with her body! For ever! The parts of his body (the head, the eyes, organs, fins, etc.) all atrophy, degenerate, and melt into her, and he becomes a permanent parasite! The female's blood vessels and skin now penetrate the male's body and sustain it. He essentially now becomes
merely a sperm bank, for when the female decides it's time to reproduce!
OK, have you heard enough to produce nightmares tonight? As they say, truth is often stranger than fiction. As weird as this is, this also illustrates astounding design! God's creativity even has uncanny twists!
