When Anglerfish mate, they melt into each other and share their bodies forever! When a young male angler encounters a female, he latches onto her with his sharp teeth. Over time, the male physically fuses with the female, connecting to her skin and bloodstream and losing his eyes and all his internal organs except the testes. Soon he’s little more than a lump of flesh hanging from the female, taking food from her and providing sperm whenever she’s ready to spawn. A female will carry six or more males on her body.
Interestingly, some ceratioids have a trait that scientists call “obligatory parasitism,” meaning that the fish don’t become sexually mature until they’re fused with a mate. What’s more, a male will die if he doesn’t find a female within the first few months of his life.
Many other ceratioid anglerfish are nonparasitic — a male will latch onto the female, release his sperm while she releases her eggs and then swim off. In these cases, the pair’s tissues never fuse.
Picture Credit : Google
