Researchers in Japan are both surprised and perplexed that the discovery of a sea slug species, specifically Chromodoris reticulata, that is not only able to detach its penis, but also grow a new one for use in reproducing. Talk about convenience! This sea life doesn’t ever have to worry about losing its genitalia, and seeing as how it’s a hermaphrodite, it has a female set too!
With their study published in the Royal Society’s journal Biology Letters, the scientists write that this is the animal they’ve ever seen that can repeatedly mate with what they described as a “disposable penis.” Red and white colored and the size of a human thumb, the sea slug is found in warm waters in Southeast Asia. As they have both sets of genitalia which are able to be used simultaneously, mating means giving and receiving sperm. Afterwards, researchers found the species sheds its penis, but only 24 hours later a new one grows back, and they are capable of mating once more.
The biggest surprise is that a larger portion of the penis is coiled up inside their bodies, and then grows out to replace the part that has been discarded. The sea slugs are capable of this feat three times, with each mating session 24 hours apart. It’s not clear to the researchers yet if the creature’s penis is entirely “used up” after these three instances, or if it can re-grow the internal organ after several weeks or months. Scientists say there are other species that have been found to lose their male organs after mating, including orb weaving spiders, a sea creature known as the periwinkle, and different land slugs, but this is the first that can regenerate a lost penis.
[via ABC News]