If in the beginning there was male and female, fish seem to have forgotten the memo. For nearly 500 fish species, including the clownfish in "Finding Nemo," the great divide between sexes is more like a murky line: If circumstances call for it, the fish can swap their sex, with females turning
For nearly 500 fish species, including the clownfish in"Finding Nemo," the great divide between sexes is more like a murky line: If circumstances call for it, the fish can swap their sex, with females turning into males in some species and males turning into females in others.
The researchers looked at the bluehead wrasse, a reef fish that swims in small groups of a dominant blue-headed male and a posse of smaller yellow females. Normally the male and females stay as they are, feeding together and occasionally mating. But if a predator happens to snatch up the lead male, the dominant female in the group will become a male.
They found that removing the males likely stressed females. The hormones released from that stress dial back the activity of the gene that makes the female hormone estrogen, and eventually ovary cells start to die. At the same time, those hormones increase activity in the genes that produce male hormones, and later testicles form.
As female wrasse transitioned to a male, these tags were removed and reorganized, almost as if the fish was being reprogrammed.
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