Summary: An Evolutionary Switcheroo

Striped bass are known by avid fisherman as a ‘true bass’ and are not members of the sunfish family. Due to their similarities, the striped bass can often get mistaken for the white bass and vice versa. These beautiful members of the bass family originate from the eastern seaboard of America and are most often found in St Lawrence River going all the way from Canada to Louisiana.

Imperato-McGinley et al (1974) studied members of the Batista family who, due to a mutant gene, were born with the external features of a young girl, but physically changed into men at puberty. The large increase in testosterone at puberty activated a process that should have occurred during prenatal development and so they developed male gentile and became men also showing masculine behaviour and going on to marry women.

Shark mating rituals vary from the size of the shark and its specie. In smaller, more flexible species, the male coils around the female, while the male of the larger specie orients himself parallel and head-to-head with the female (Woums & Demski 1993). Some species mating rituals also consists of males biting females on the pectoral fins or the middle of the back to hold on to them (Woums & Demski 1993). The female will often bear scars or marks, after the ordeal. Due to the fact that sharks are cold blooded animals, there is no precise gestation time. The development of the embryo will depend solely on the temperature of the water, however, the gestation period can last anywhere from 2 months to 2 years (Woums & Demski 1993). Within shark species there are two methods of reproduction. In some cases a female shark will lay eggs in a coastal nursery where the presence of other sharks are absent. And in other cases, usually in the larger sharks, females give birth to live offspring (Wourms & Demski 1993). In which case the young are born fully developed, and once they are born they shoot away fast or they risk being eaten.

Lake Malawi’s cichlid male population of fish are tested on their ability to build bowers to attract the female population. Altering this extended phenotype, or ability to build bowers resulted in no change of mating, but males that built successful bowers showed to

Without a doubt jobs are already hard to come by, and now having this jellyfish dilemma has made it even harder. Fishermen are definitely feeling the stress of this crunch, along with people in the communities. In one of the articles I read it states, “In the Black Sea, blooms of Mnemiopsis jellyfish are responsible for millions of dollars in losses for the local fishery industries who catch and sell anchovies”. For example, when jellyfish eat the larva and eggs of the fish, this leaves fishermen without fish to catch, and no way to make a living.

First of all David Reimer (then known as Bruce) was genetically born a boy however in 1966 his penis was destroyed by accident during a circumcision, his parents then took him to a psychologist and sexologists John Money. Money advised the parents to change the sex of their child since penis reconstruction wasn’t an option then, he was a supporter of the idea that gender wasn’t predetermined genetically and was from the influence of the environment.

Smallmouths have both external fertilization and external development. Feeding for smallmouth tops when the temperature is around 78 degrees and starts to slow down once the temperature goes below 40 degrees. The male always guards the eggs and the babies which are known as fry. The spawning usually occurs in April or May unless the temperature stays cold than it can be delayed. The first person to describe a smallmouth bass was Lacepede is 1802. The fry hatch out of their eggs in about a week and then continue to develop for another week. Young smallmouths are fed upon by yellow perch, Northern pike or muskellunge. Bigger bass are only eaten by northern pike, musky but the main predators of smallmouth bass are humans. The lifespan in the wild is normally about seven years, but some will live up to 20 years. In captivity the average age is ten years. When the young hatch out of their eggs they are about 0.2 inches long, very easy prey for a variety of animals. Multiple females will spawn in the nest of one male and an individual female will spawn in more than one. Smallmouth dance and bite each other, this is their mating ritual. In New York the record smallmouth was 8 pounds, 4 ounces caught out of Lake Erie on 6/4/1995 by Andrew C Kartesz. Smallmouth bass are beginning to destroy Brooke trout fisheries and Atlantic salmon fisheries. The meat of a smallmouth is very firm and good tasting so many people catch the fish not only for the fun of the

The nature side of the debate states that gender is biological. This would explain the strong relationship between the person’s sex and their gender. The theory is that because each sex shares the same physiology and anatomy, they have many psychological traits in common too. In the same way that genetics and hormones determine an individual’s sex, they also determine whether a person will behave in a more feminine or masculine way. Males are born

Driven by such high prices, many fishermen, chefs and business owners depend on the bluefin tuna industry for a way to support their lives. Respectively so, without sustainable fishing practices and stricter regulations for the bluefin tuna, neither Japan, nor the rest of the world will even have the choice on whether or not eating and fishing bluefin tuna should be an option (Crockett).

Judson contributes to onefs understanding of sex among different organisms in that she makes difficult concepts simple to comprehend. Although she uses scientific terminology, she limits it so that anyone can understand the technical information she shares. Judson also describes the types of environments in which each species and

The Stereolepis gigas, or Giant sea bass, is a fish native to California. They are very large creatures, their typical weight being 562 pounds, and their typical length being 8 feet. Aside from their size, they have big, robust heads with large mouths to help capture their prey. They have long dorsal spines that fit into grooves in their back to help them swim. Their color can vary from reddish brown, to grey, and to dark brown. Most of the time, they have dark colored spots. They have a surprisingly long lifespan, on average, they live to be 75 years or older.

In some species of fish, such as the three – spined sticktle back, the male, not the female, performs the task of caring the young

Over the years, the male population of the blue moon butterfly has increased to nearly forty percent and this is all due to evolution. (Sherriff 2007).

Yet it is still unclear why this stable strategy is so rare, as it is only known to exist in <0.1% of vertebrate species (Dawley and Bogart 1989). With advances in genetic analysis biologists have been able to confirm and refute some of the previous reports of parthenogenesis (Mittwoch 1978). Subsequent studies and technological development serve to increase the number of known parthenogenic species and improve our understanding of the factors promoting these unusual reproductive strategies. With so little existing data from such diverse species, it is still impossible to conclude if parthenogenesis occurs as a synapomorphy in any of the vertebrate clades. The evolutionary ramifications of potential paternal leakage in gynogenesis are also unclear, and are likely to vary among different species (Lamatsch and Stöck 2009). Known occurrences of parthenogenic bony fish in the wild are well-documented and are growing in number. However, parthenogenesis in wild sharks has yet to be reported. It is possible that automixis only exists in shark populations that lack males, as was the case in all of the captive studies (Robinson et al. 2011). Increasing our understanding of such unusual reproductive strategies in fish serves to accelerate our understanding of biology, ecology, and the biomedical sciences (Lampert 2008). The future of studying fish parthenogenesis is bright and a significant amount of novel research is left to be

For example, females usually inherit an X chromosome form both parents. Social skills which are a typical female characteristics can be found in he x chromosome. From these findings it can be said that women are more comfortable in social settings. I can think of my husband in social settings where he does not know anyone he is less likely than me to introduce himself. I have no problem introducing myself and striking up a conversation with a stranger. Hormones also have an effect on gender determination. Men and women go through maturity as a result of hormones. Estrogen in women and Testosterone influence skills and tendencies associated with gender. Sex effects how the brain develops. According to our textbook, the force of biology is evident in cases where doctors try to change a child’s biological sex” (47). Doctors mistakenly amputated David’s penis to correct phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin of the penis interferes with urination. The child’s name was changed to Brenda and she did not take to being a girl. Later in life Brenda changed her name back into David and began living a life as a male eventually getting married and raising stepchildren. I believe that biological theory is accurate match for one’s gender.