Sexual encounters and luminous
signals in the deep sea
Peter Herring, Ph.D.
Southampton Oceanography Centre
Wednesday, August 30, 2000
3:00 p.m.—Pacific Forum
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| Pachystomias microdon |
Deep-sea animals are not very abundant, yet they must encounter one
another for sexual reproduction to maintain the populations. Many species
have sexually dimorphic light organs and it is assumed that these
facilitate sexual encounters.
I give some examples of the known numbers of some fish and crustaceans
and discuss whether luminous signals can provide the primary sensory
channel for species recognition.
Next: Development of microbiochemical systems and their application to in situ genetic analysis systems for deep-sea microorganisms
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