Friggin' snakes (was Re: [thechat] he ain't heavy, he's my hampsterdance.)

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Tue Sep 17 13:22:01 CDT 2002


Oh I remember the spurs from the dogfish (shark) in zoo 101...

http://www.na.nmfs.gov/sharks/repro/reprointro.html
"Male sharks are as reproductively complex as the females. Internal
fertilization is accomplished using one or both claspers, which are
rod-like appendages of the male's pelvic fins. Claspers are rotated
and inserted into the female's vagina after a sometimes elaborate but
poorly known courtship process in which the male bites the female's
fins and flanks until she is receptive. The maneuvering to permit
copulation must be complex, especially with females weighing
thousands of pounds. The clasper is anchored in the female by
terminal spurs or sharpened expendable ridges and spermatozoa are
transferred in a stream of water driven by paired siphon sacs. These
sacs are a muscle-driven hydraulic system in the abdominal wall of
the males. All of this rough interplay with teeth and spurs has been
softened over the eons by the development of thicker skin in female
sharks. The skin of the adult female blue shark, for example, is
three times thicker than the male's - thicker than the length of his
teeth."

E


>Hi David,
>
>
>I'm pretty sure the spurs are vestigial structures ... so you're only going
>to find them on "more primitive" or "older model designs" -- like the Boas
>and Pythons. The "newer"/"more recently evolved" snakes - like the Ratsnake
>family don't really have spurs.
>
>Also - the spurs are on the sides of the snake and don't extend from
>the cloaca.
>
>
>RonL.
>(Useless facts?  Like the one about the male snakes storing their male
>'pieces-parts' inside out, [Ouch!], inside their tails?)

--



More information about the thechat mailing list