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Loading...10 Strange Animal Mating Rituals (Slideshow)
- The Nature Conservancy
- February 16, 2012
- 10:30 am
- 110 comments
Freshwater mussels: The Bait and Switch
Male mussels release sperm into the water, which females capture downstream. Larvae hatch inside the females’ shells but must then attach to a fish to grow. To lure fish, mother mussels wave appendages that look like worms, crayfish or other bait. Some emit a smell of rotting flesh to attract scavenger fish. When fish approach, the mussels shoot the larvae onto the fish.
Read more about the Conservancy’s work with mussels and watch a video.
Next: Lions
(Image: Mussels. Source: tlindenbaum/Flickr via a Creative Commons license.)
Read more: Dating, Love, Nature, Nature & Wildlife, Relationships, Sex, Valentine's Day, agnlerfish, American burying beetle, animal love, animal mating rites, animal mating rituals, animal sex, bower bird, brown bat, day octopus, lion, love in the wild, monogamy, mussel, prairie chicken, prairie vole, procreation, Raja Ampat, slideshow, The Nature Conservancy, tree cricket, white nose syndrome
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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people are talking
What a sweet owl. Thank you for the wonderful video.
Candle wax for dents might be okay for painted surfaces but I enjoyed refinishing antique furniture …
Cutie.
thx
All wild flowers grow freely in our garden ...
110 comments
+ add your ownAnd I thought we were complicated :)
Thank you! Re-shared :)
noted
just amazing. all of it was super interesting. thanks!
Oh my gosh. Lions are sex addicts (LOL).
ty
mating in nature has far more variety than many who talk about the "laws of nature" or what is "natural" behavior have ever actually learned.......
Thanks.
Thanks, interesting.
Just right for each one.
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