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Jun 18, 2009 11:41 AM
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Some insects and sea creatures produce sperm that is up to 10 times bigger than they are. Now scientists have used an innovative new x-ray technology to show how this bizarre situation evolved over hundreds of millions of years.
It sounds like a genetic aberration, but supergiant sperm can actually be an evolutionary advantage in several species. Fruit flies are a just a few millimeters long, but their sperm are 6 cm long. To top that, a human male would have to shoot out sperm that are up to 60 meters long. Another super giant sperm producer is a type of ostracod, a sea crustacean that looks like a tiny snail less than a centimeter long. Its sperm grows up to 10 times longer than its body. Here you can see an X-ray holotomograph of some super giant sperm.
read more: #evolution, #supergiantsperm, #ostrocods, #fossils, #synchrotronxrayholotomography, #imaging, #biology, #madscience, #science, #top
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