The Mr. Moms of the Fish World
source: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-mr-moms-of-the-fish-world
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- DeliaTheArtist
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"Male pipefish, seahorses and their kin are the stay-at-home dads of the fish world, rearing their young in placentalike pouches from the time they are fertilized eggs until they can swim away.
New research shows that these involved fathers not only shelter their young but transfer key nutrients to their offspring via their own versions of a placenta, helping to supplement what the embryos received from their mother in the egg yolk.
Ripley says she hopes to explore how changes in the environment, such as the rise and fall of toxins in seawater, affect the paternal transfer of nutrients in pipefish and their kin. "We are trying to draw parallels between this pouch and the mammalian placenta so that in the future we can test emerging contaminants and chemicals," she says. "In this way, we may be able to predict the potential harmful effects [of these substances] on human development."
New research shows that these involved fathers not only shelter their young but transfer key nutrients to their offspring via their own versions of a placenta, helping to supplement what the embryos received from their mother in the egg yolk.
Ripley says she hopes to explore how changes in the environment, such as the rise and fall of toxins in seawater, affect the paternal transfer of nutrients in pipefish and their kin. "We are trying to draw parallels between this pouch and the mammalian placenta so that in the future we can test emerging contaminants and chemicals," she says. "In this way, we may be able to predict the potential harmful effects [of these substances] on human development."
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- groups:
- Green, Earth and Science
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- tags:
- Green, Earth and Science, Ocean, Fish, 1 more
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MavericktheMaverick
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Aweomse! Go dads!
- 3 years ago
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MavericktheMaverick
