Edification

The saying that fact is stranger than fiction is an apt assessment of the little known manifestations of chimeras in nature. The leftvent is an extraordinary example of an entire species that benefit evolutionarily from a rather strange chimeric relationship. A type of angler fish, its natural habitat is the deep sea where sunlight cannot reach and food and mates may be few and far between. To solve this pressing problem of reproduction in such an inhospitable environment, leftvents have evolved a peculiar coping strategy called parasitic chimerism. Adult females are several times larger than adult males and equipped with menacing long teeth set in a cavernous jaw, a distensible stomach, and a bioluminescent “fishing” lure. The adult male is not equipped with such ostensibly monstrous adaptations, but instead possesses larger olfactory organs and eyes. Using the female’s species-specific pheromones and lures, he locates and latches onto her with his otherwise useless jaws. Gradually, their bodies become one as the male becomes a permanent parasite, eventually sharing the same circulatory system with the female. In this amazing metamorphosis, the male’s large testes finally develop while all of its other organs degenerate. The end result, a hermaphroditic chimera, thus increases its reproductive chances, employing unconventional solutions to an unconventional problem.

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