Jun 18, 2009 11:41 AM 42,859 29
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The Strange Life of Creatures Whose Sperm Is Larger Than They Are

Among super giant sperm producers, females have developed a special cavity that takes up to a third of their bodies to store the super giant sperm of their mates. Here you can see one such cavity, in an ostracod, which is only about half-filled with sperm. A paper published this afternoon in Science reveals how a group of scientists led by Renate Matzke-Karasz used a cutting-edge imaging technique called "synchrotron X-ray holotomography" to understand the evolution of this bizarre reproductive tool.

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read more: #evolution, #supergiantsperm, #ostrocods, #fossils, #synchrotronxrayholotomography, #imaging, #biology, #madscience, #science, #top