Biology Extra Credit Question... **ANSWER POSTED**

[rubyv67]

Could it be insects? Bees, wasps,etc.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
It's not platypus. During the last five minutes everyone was making guesses and that was one that she declined. I am leaning towards fish too, but Clownfish are hermaphroditic, meaning that they are actually immature/neutral males. Once one becomes dominant in a pair, it then turns to female while the other grows into a mature male.

 

[BethinIrving]

Rooster -- are we maybe thinking about large animals and not other types of smaller living things?

Teeny, tiny things????

Think about it for a second. Defining birth. Is birth just hatching eggs? Couldn't it be budding?

You'll get it. I know you will.

 

[ivan3]

chickiebaby wrote: Our SEX, which is a matter of anatomical fact, is determined by our chromosomes. But our GENDER, a socially constructed concept, which differs in diff places and diff times, is determined after birth!

I think you win the transgenic quail/chook!

gender is not sex, or a specific reference to genetics. It is an inexact term that is substituted for sex and confused with genetics though it bears a somewhat vague relationship to both.

I checked my Dorland's 24th edition Medical Dictionary (updated 1965). There is no definition/reference to gender at all.

So, I went to the etymology: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=g&p=3

To wit: "As sex took on erotic qualities in 20c., gender came to be used for "sex of a human being," often in feminist writing with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense first attested 1963. Gender-bender is first attested 1980, with reference to pop star David Bowie."

Now, back to automictic parthenogenesis in turkeys and rattlesnakes

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
I have already thought about the word "birth" with friends in my class and we all agree that it could be hatching or live birth. My teacher did say an organism and not necessarily an animal.

 

[Livinzoo]

Quote:
Oh! Sorry! I knew there was something else that it couldn't be and that is a hermaphrodite.

Sorry, I already considered them, but once she said no hermaphrodites....

Thanks though...

You did not understand what I was saying. They are not hermaphrodites. They can change their sex. They are not both sexes. Once they change to a male they can not change back to a neuter fish. Once they change to a female they can not change back to a male.

Here is a quote I found online:

"In terms of what’s going on biologically in the clownfish, apparently the dominant male has functioning testes and some latent cells that can become ovaries under the right conditions. Once the female dies, the testes in the dominant male degenerate and ovaries form from the latent ovarian cells. Voila, he is now she."

Here is a good article that should help you http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Sex_determination-system

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Oh! Sorry! I knew there was something else that it couldn't be and that is a hermaphrodite.

Sorry, I already considered them, but once she said no hermaphrodites....

Thanks though...

You did not understand what I was saying. They are not hermaphrodites. They can change their sex. They are not both sexes. Once they change to a male they can not change back to a neuter fish. Once they change to a female they can not change back to a male.

Here is a quote I found online:

"In terms of what’s going on biologically in the clownfish, apparently the dominant male has functioning testes and some latent cells that can become ovaries under the right conditions. Once the female dies, the testes in the dominant male degenerate and ovaries form from the latent ovarian cells. Voila, he is now she."

Here is a good article that should help you http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Sex_determination-system

No, I know what you were talking about. Clownfish are considered Hermaphrodites. So are angelfish and other saltwater fish.

 

[Mahonri]

It's not a human. That is determined by chromosomes.

It is not a clown fish (or any fish)... that's a hermaphrodite.

It is not a turtle... reptile.

(I also got my undergrad degree in Biology)

I'm still thinking...

But at present, I'm thinking frog.

 

[Livinzoo]

From the link I sent
"Non-genetic sex-determination systems

Many other exotic sex-determination systems exist. In some species of reptiles, including alligators and the tuatara, sex is determined by the temperature at which the egg is incubated. Other species, such as some snails, practice sex change: adults start out male, then become female. In tropical clown fish, the dominant individual in a group becomes female while the other ones are male.

Some species have no sex-determination system. Earthworms and some snails are hermaphrodites; a few species of lizard, fish, and insect are all female and reproduce by parthenogenesis.

In some arthropods, sex is determined by infection. Bacteria of the genus Wolbachia alter their sexuality; some species consist entirely of ZZ individuals, with sex determined by the presence of Wolbachia. "

 

[chickiebaby]

I still think it's a toss-up between the clownfish and David Bowie.