Image of the Day: Sex Flip Flop

The bluebanded goby, Lythrypnus dalli, is capable of quickly changing sexes in either direction—a transition that typically takes two weeks.

Written byThe Scientist
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Lythrypnus dalli

KORY GOZJACK

Scientists at Georgia State University demonstrated that male gobies produce more androgen receptors than females. This increase is evident on a muscle that directs the movement of their dorsal and caudal fins, and could be important for driving courtship behaviors that are stereotypically male.

See E.R. Schuppe et al., “Sex differences in neuromuscular androgen receptor expression and sociosexual behavior in a sex changing fish,” PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177711, 2017.

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