10 Ridiculously Weird Animal Mating Rituals
4. Female Anglerfish Carry Their Mate Around For Life As A Parasite
Does anybody out there considers their boyfriend/girlfriend to be too clingy? If so you can at least count yourself lucky that you aren’t a female anglerfish.
Essentially the male anglerfish’s sole purpose in life is to find and mate with a female (they’re similar to most teenage boys in this regard), because if they don’t find a mate they will likely die quickly, as they are often too small to survive on their own.
When a male anglerfish finds a female he will bite into her skin and release an enzyme which digests the skin of his mouth and her body, causing them to fuse together. The male then becomes dependant on the female for survival as the two fish essentially become one.
Through their shared circulatory system the female provides the male with the required nutrients to survive, whilst the male provides the female with sperm for reproduction in return.