:lol:

ITEM: Australian Cuttlefish Cross-Dress for Reproductive Advantage (http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10056839%255E13762,00.html)

But are they executive transvestite cuttlefish?

Clem

;)

Here's where I have to wonder whether or not I should post my typical response.

I saw this sometime ago on discovery.

Sneaky lil buggers :heee:

:lol:

ITEM: Australian Cuttlefish Cross-Dress for Reproductive Advantage (http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10056839%255E13762,00.html)

But are they executive transvestite cuttlefish?

Clem

Genius :jester:

Amazing...reminds me of something...can't quite put my finger on it...oh yeah... my ex-husband. :P

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=2724

:shock:

I feel ill!

:shock: I feel ill!

I think you're just jealous. :twisted:

Heh.

Seriously, though, doesn't this seem like a risky gambit? Even if the younger male cuttles are swifter than their elder competitors, wouldn't some of them be, ah, violated by the males they've duped?

:goofysca:

Clem, Mrs.

Absolutely horrifying...yikes.
I doubt that the eminent Herr Doktor would be jealous, Kat...but then again, he does listen to NEIL DIAMOND !!!! :shock:

When the larger males were not looking, the smaller males reverted to their normal colour and quickly mated with the females

Well, 'sneaking' behavior (smaller males being tricksy rather than taking on large competitors head-to-head) is a pretty well-documented reproductive strategy; I did a study on it once in wetas (really big, ugly bugs). Though they hadn't evolved into the cross-dressing phase yet... does seem like it would carry certain, er, risks. :roll:

Personally ... I like wearing dresses .... high heels and .... fishnets :madsci:

But I most certainly AM NOT IN TO BOTTOM TRAWLING!!!!

Love_newf .... what have you started? Cease and desist, pleeeeeeeze!

Ps, in support of Sir Dr Ummm......, Neil ROCKS!!!

PPS, so too do cuttlefish, squid & octopus (in keeping with the programme)!

Love_newf .... what have you started? Cease and desist, pleeeeeeeze!

I don't know if I can... I may be past the point of no return. :|

Yep, you smack a neil diamond lover on the nose and they run around crying "foul!".
Strange, that is what I say every time I hear a ND song...hmmm... :lol:

But you shouldn't smack them with their own stolen articles, though. That's just a little bit too tacky.

:x

:lol: Executive tranvestite cuttlefish, oh boy, on the subject of the subjectless, you can pick up a good deal on the Dress to Kill DVD at Virgin Records. Strangley, I find executive transvestite cuttlefish easier to swallow than action transvestive cuttlefish. As for love newf's pic, well... it reminds me of when I was seven and my mom and sister kept on getting "ideas" :bonk: I wonder if it had anything to do with triggering my borderline insanity.

And they all akwardly backed away, leaving the thread to die and decay...

Breaking News:

Transvestite Cuttlefish Survey Results (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4188495.stm)

:roll:

Clem

Pretty soon, the larger males will try to mate with every single femaling looking cuttle to be on the safe side, but that evoution, we'll see that in the next decade I fink.

All of the Republican cuttlefish are going to be up in arms over this.

um...,

Oh, I don't know. I hear Rupert Murdoch did pretty much the same thing when he was courting his wife. Not coincidentally, he's Australian, too.

:twisted:

Clem, waiting for the lawsuit

I actually know a couple of straight guys here in LA that use the exact same strategy. It also helps that they seem to know exactly where to shop. Women love their ensembles, want to know more, approach...
sneaky, I suppose, but all's fair in love and war. Gotta get around the bullies somehow...

I used to stuff toilet paper under my shirt and shoes to look taller and have bigger muslces in school so the bullies don't dare get me. An exact opposite to the cuttles. :grin:

Wellll... depends where under your shirt you were stuffing the toilet paper, and how much. :roll:

bit like paper-mache, you stuff it round your biceps and make your chest have a six pack (of paper) :lol: :lol:

I just want to deleat the last post, thank you.

I didn't notice what your wrote.

Good! Then I got to it in time. It drifted further off the thread and, although not profane, wasn't entirely suitable for general consumption. I can be a bit of a vulgarian sometimes.

Back to the thread, however, I find it remarkable if not entirely surprising that these cuttles have made this adaptation in their behaviour; anybody who has observed mating competition between cuttles has seen how belligerant the dominant males can be. I've noticed a number of nasty wounds on the losers in aquariums. My question is how long it has taken the female-impersonators to adopt this behavioural ruse, or has it only been noticed recently but has been probably going-on indefinitely? Since alpha males are traditionally the ones that propagate a healthy species, how could this ultimately effect their evolution if the traditionally weaker ones are now getting to mate?

That is very smart for those wimpy males! Covert mating...ewww...

Since alpha males are traditionally the ones that propagate a healthy species, how could this ultimately effect their evolution if the traditionally weaker ones are now getting to mate?

Is evolution really seeking to create the biggest, meanest cuttlefish in the sea? I'm going to go all Richard Dawkins here and assert that 'survival of the fittest' is a manifestation of genes simply trying to make the most copies of themselves. Being an alpha male is generally a very sound way to get genes copied, and is in a sense the 'safest bet'. However, if an animal can survive until sexual maturity and manage to plant some seeds, then the genes still have a chance of being propagated. Evidently, some cross-dressing cuttles manage to reproduce and pass on the cross-dressing genes. These devious little deviants are in the minority, and will stay that way unless being weak but crafty becomes a superior strategy (Revenge of the Nerd Cuttlefish?). So, I'd expect the species to stay healthy (unless we manage to wipe them out). Are the dominant cuttles possibly a little better off, too, if they don't have to fight gruelling battles with every male that comes along?

:cuttle: <-- it's difficult to see the lipstick (beakstick?)

"Reveng of the Nerd Cuttlefish", hmmm...

Incidentally, Richard Dawkins was a special guest on the Holland America's Zaandam for a CFI cruise in the Caribbean last December. A whole boatload of skeptics visiting the Islands would have been fun!

hm...very werid about the aphla male part, but when the Nerdy cuttles are not the minority anymore, the alpha males will problably know that any female looking cuttle could be mated, then the Nerdy cuttles will have a real bad day.