this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
305 points (97.2% liked)
Science Memes
11086 readers
2560 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Serious question: how are male and female defined, and why does the sea horse that gets pregnant count as male and not female?
it sounds like they consider a male seahorse a male because he produces sperm rather than eggs.
The female seahorse drops her eggs off into a male brood pouch, a little pocket the male seahorse has on the front of him that has a placenta in it, and then he fertilizes those eggs and carries the fetuses for a few weeks and then little seahorses flutter out when he gives birth.
there's a video. and it's a LOT of baby flutterhorses
https://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/male-seahorses-give-birth.htm
Basically a reverse kangaroo.
yea lil flappy water kangaroos
Incidentally, "reverse kangaroo" is also a sex act that is prohibited by law in all of the states and territories of Australia, except Tasmania.
No, it isn't!
I looked it up...
Male is the sex that produces the smaller gamete, female the sex that produces the larger
Usually animals are categorized as male and female based on what type of gametes their gonads produce. So male sea horses produce sperm.
~~Not sure how to count the "pregnancy" though, as these are fish and because of the following:~~
From Wikipedia
E: the wiki article goes on to talk about pregnant sea horses, so yeah, they are pregnant and they do get impregnated by female sea horses!
Oh, god. They have a pregnancy fetish.
The male doesn't get pregnant. It's like a kangaroo with a pouch to carry the babies.
Except that in cangaroos the mother actually needs to be pregnant and birth its babies first. In sea horses the female directly lays the eggs inside the pouch of the male, impregnating it, and the male then undergoes pregnancy. So actually very different to kangaroos?
No, it's exactly like kangaroos. /s...
My point was that it is nothing like in kangaroos. The comparison is just misleading.
It's like kangaroos in the sence that it's a pouch not a uterus. Some fish put eggs in a cave, but that doesn't make the cave pregnant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_in_fish
Going off of this, it's just a matter of the term "pregnancy" being co-opted to describe something completely different from what it means in its original context. As does happen, even in science.