[News] Amazon Mollies survive without males

[DeeperBlue.com]

BBCnews:Experts believe that an all femalefish species has survived for 70,000 years without reproducing sexually.(Picture credit: Dunja K Lamatsch)Scientists from the University ofEdinburgh think the Amazon Molly may be employing ...

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[naiad]

Amazing - the Black Molly, a tropical aquarium fish, also sometimes gets pregnant without a male, probably for the same reason. Also, in mollies, guppies, platies and swordtails, one mating leads to several pregnancies of 10-100 fry each. Despite this, they mate all day long. It is impossible to stop them breeding. rofl

 

[naiad]

Another twist in the sex life of swordtails is that when a female is old and has had several pregnancies, she avoids the strain of further pregnancy by becoming a fully functional male. She is bigger than a 'natural' male, so she (or he?) can fight off the competition easily.