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Science & Technology
Photo: DPA

Gay sex makes fish more attractive to females

Published: 12 Dec 12 06:31 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20121212-46707.html

A little fish that appears to enjoy homosexual relations with other males simultaneously increases their attractiveness to females, German researchers have discovered.

A new study by scientists from the University of Frankfurt found the Shortfin molly – a popular fish for tropical aquariums – places a premium on sexual activity. Therefore a male engaging in homosexual behaviour can impress a female with his virility and fitness.

“Sexual activity in itself is a sign of quality for females because sick or underfed males show little sexual behaviour,” said evolutionary biologist David Bierbach, adding this could possibly explain bisexuality in some other species as well.

Publishing their findings in the British journal “Biology Letters,” the researchers picked the Shortfin molly because unlike many fish, insemination takes places inside the female, which bears its young live.

Known by the scientific name Poecilia mexicana, the fish found in rivers in Central and South America normally grow between four and six centimetres long. Whereas the males have orange-turquoise markings, the females are a more subdued beige.

The scientists showed a Shortfin molly female videos of a male engaging in either heterosexual or homosexual behaviour. “Both turned the female on,” said Bierbach.

The females also spent more time watching the fish pornos rather than videos of males not engaging in any kind of sex.

DPA/The Local/mry

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

08:26 December 12, 2012 by raandy
And the importance of this is???
09:25 December 12, 2012 by Firmino
The same as anything else we learn about animals?
10:11 December 12, 2012 by raandy
How very astute.
10:23 December 12, 2012 by wood artist
@raandy

I think it shows that other animals don't necessarily share the moral assumptions and prejudices that some humans do.

wa
10:31 December 12, 2012 by raandy
wa No doubt but back to my original question, what value is this to mankind.?
10:39 December 12, 2012 by Bumps
Comment removed by The Local for breach of our terms.
10:44 December 12, 2012 by Firmino
Not everything that science learns is immediately useful, sometimes it's just knowledge for the sake of knowledge. We send space probes to Mars not because it's useful but to learn about our universe.

But this is actually useful, it demonstrates the evolutionary advantage of same sex relations.
10:57 December 12, 2012 by raandy
I think we send probes to Mars because we are inherently colonial and space is just another frontier.
12:10 December 12, 2012 by hankeat
@raandy: What a question! Do you only read useful and important things?
13:02 December 12, 2012 by mobaisch
Randy..

I learned alot from this article:

1. Fish can have sex. Just like us too!

2. Fish can be gay. Please refer to kanye west, the gay fish.

3. fish has males and females.

4. female fish desire the not-desiring-her male fish.

5. if you are a fish and want to have sex with a female fish, pretend that you are a gay fish and not interested in her. Her fishy sexuality will jump up the roof, and she would do anything!

Now i get why some girls can still be interested in kanye west.

Hopefully we will see another million spent on researching whether fish do blow jobs or not.
17:34 December 12, 2012 by raandy
hankeat obviously not, I read this one.

mobaisch LOL, the next 200 to 300k spent on improving our knowledge could possibly give us the answer. I am sitting on the edge of my chair waiting.
23:06 December 12, 2012 by www.emungus.net
THE ART OF MARKETING HOMOSEXUALITY

The article is marketing gay sex , no more no less. The author did it in a perfect eye-catching way : scientifically. A smart propaganda indeed.

And little goes long way, the society is now prompting the public to gay culture. To do this, all means are good : fancy articles , ads ­and now ''a scientific finding ¦#39;¦#39;. The promoters are agile, they know where to catch up masses' mind : people spend their playtime in outdoor activities or in front of TV screens watching movies, music… or just fribbling at computer desks : then internet becomes a perfect rat trap that makes all of us so well our children perfect targets and victims.

Once again, we would bet this article is about promoting gay fashion rather than sustaining a scientific finding. Yet the link between fishes¦#39; behavior and gay sex is unclear. What¦#39;s new in the article? One can hardly spot any discovery that can pioneer a new path in science : ¦#39;¦#39; …Sick or underfed males show little sexual behavior¦#39;¦#39;, so does everybody, including human beings ! About bisexuality behavior in shortfin mollies, this is common to animal species -they mate with each other regardless sex gender of their partners . That ¦#39;s what distinguishes us from animals . Human beings are attract to the opposite sex (man-woman). That ¦#39;s why mankind lives on in generations.

Based on the foregoing , the art of marketing homosexuality still has a long way to go.
03:27 December 13, 2012 by Asgarli
I am ashamed of studying in Uni Frankfurt..
07:59 December 13, 2012 by hsbrodt
Haven't those geniuses ever heard of the "cheerleader effect"?
18:40 December 13, 2012 by sonriete
@www.emungus.net ;

How does this distinguish us from animals? Last time I checked the large majority of humans and animals both were heterosexual, but some of each species were homosexual, and so what?

The article implies that if you flirt with men in front of women that makes you more attractive to women.

Why don't you try this method for six months yourself and then report back to the Local with your findings?
13:04 December 14, 2012 by raandy
sonriete Excellent ! couldn't agree more.
19:16 December 14, 2012 by delicia
Comment removed by The Local for breach of our terms.
20:02 December 14, 2012 by sonriete
@delicia ;

so you are an American woman and find sex between two men disgusting? Well, thank goodness you will never be able or forced to participate.

so you say the anus is not designed to receive but rather to excrete?

and take that logic one more step, what about the vagina? does it not have multiple purposes?

excretion, copulation, giving birth...just sayin...
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