03-19-2025, 06:52 PM
Is there anyone here on the forum who has kept fish? Specifically, guppies? You know, those fancy colorful fish with long flowing fins?
So, you go to the pet store and buy a dozen of the little buggers, all male, because they’re pretty and you don’t care for those drab females (and maybe you don’t care about them having babies). All is good until you notice one of those males has changed: it’s gotten heavier, it’s abdominal spot where it poops has gotten bigger, and the rest of the males are chasing it around. Huh, you think, and go about your day. Next thing you know, little babies are swimming around.
Guppies aren’t the only fish that will change sex depending on their circumstances. Yes, you can say that they have only male or female gonads, but … is that true? Can genes exert such influence after so-called sexual maturation? They do in some fish (I won’t claim ALL because I don’t know that); I’m not surprised that such plasticity is found in birds; I don’t know if it has been seen in insects; I seem to recall something of this in other invertebrate species.
Those who insist that the world is the way they want to see it are blind, indeed. (Not saying this applies to anyone HERE, you know…).
As a scientist, I have to ask “If you already know the answer, then why are you doing the experiment?” And the answer is usually to realize that I don’t know everything. Hell, some days it seems like I don’t know ANYthing.
Edit: reading the article helps. It doesn’t claim that the birds change sex (I’m still reading it) but rather some of the things we have considered as sex-related aren’t actually related to the sex of the creature… I’m still reading, and will amend my post shortly.
So, you go to the pet store and buy a dozen of the little buggers, all male, because they’re pretty and you don’t care for those drab females (and maybe you don’t care about them having babies). All is good until you notice one of those males has changed: it’s gotten heavier, it’s abdominal spot where it poops has gotten bigger, and the rest of the males are chasing it around. Huh, you think, and go about your day. Next thing you know, little babies are swimming around.
Guppies aren’t the only fish that will change sex depending on their circumstances. Yes, you can say that they have only male or female gonads, but … is that true? Can genes exert such influence after so-called sexual maturation? They do in some fish (I won’t claim ALL because I don’t know that); I’m not surprised that such plasticity is found in birds; I don’t know if it has been seen in insects; I seem to recall something of this in other invertebrate species.
Those who insist that the world is the way they want to see it are blind, indeed. (Not saying this applies to anyone HERE, you know…).
As a scientist, I have to ask “If you already know the answer, then why are you doing the experiment?” And the answer is usually to realize that I don’t know everything. Hell, some days it seems like I don’t know ANYthing.
Edit: reading the article helps. It doesn’t claim that the birds change sex (I’m still reading it) but rather some of the things we have considered as sex-related aren’t actually related to the sex of the creature… I’m still reading, and will amend my post shortly.