Animals do what type of reproduction

His study subject, the asexual Amazon molly fish , defies the so-called rules of reproduction by making perfect clones of itself, sans males. With such a lack of genetic diversity, these finger-sized fish should have been wiped out by disease long ago, Schlupp points out. Here's a species that doesn't [recombine their genes every generation] and theoretically should have been dead many thousands of generations ago, but yet they're living happily.

But one thing's for certain: The more we learn about "alternative "reproduction strategies across species, the more we realize that many of them might not be so alternative after all. Now that they know what to look for, biologists are finding more and more cases of strange and hitherto unknown forms of animal procreation. So why should all-female fish have all the fun? Spice up your mating life with these relationship tips from sharks, lizards and water fleas. Roughly , years ago, in a romantic lagoon near Tampico on Gulf side of Mexico, two distinct fish species—a sailfin molly male and an Atlantic molly female—came together in an unlikely union.

The colorful pair gave birth to the Amazon molly: an all-female, asexually reproducing mini-carrot length fish named after the all-female tribes of Greek legend, according to Schlupp of the University of Oklahoma.

Yet while these Amazons need no male genetic material to reproduce, they're not entirely independent. To kickstart their reproductive systems, they still need sperm. In a bid to find a suitor into this kind of thing, Amazons will actually disrupt mating processes between sexually reproducing mollies they come across in an effort to steal the male's seed from his erstwhile mate—by literally squeezing in between the pair.

These fishes have a specialized fin that they use to transfer sperm—we're actually talking about real copulation. It's not like a mass spawning where some parasitic female swoops in and gathers some sperm. In , scientists at the National Aquarium facilities in Baltimore happened on something fishy.

One of their female swellsharks had just laid eggs, which subsequently hatched into five baby sharks. Yet the mother shark in question had been isolated in captivity from males for at least three years. While at first researchers thought this might be a remarkable case of sperm storage—other specieshad been known to store viable sperm in their bodies—genetic testing later revealed the female had reproduced via parthenogenesis, which happens when an egg fuses with a byproduct of egg production to create a clone of the mother without any help from a male.

Solo reproduction has been also been seen in sawtooth sharks , and is usually considered a last-ditch effort for a female to pass on her genes. Add one more thing to that list of novelties: Virgin births. Because apparently, glowing in the dark and inflating your body size to almost triple isn't enough to set you apart from your run-of-the-mill sharks. A small collection of species from the crustacean family—including shrimp, lobsters and crabs—can reproduce asexually. The marbled crayfish, popular with aquarium hobbyists, is one of these.

But this all-female crayfish is also a little different: it can only reproduce asexually. Zen Faulkes , a professor of biology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, says that asexual reproduction in general seems to be associated with poor conditions, but that the asexual species are so different from their sexual peers that it's difficult to generalize any one reason for it.

If the animal is capable of fragmentation, and the part is big enough, a separate individual will regrow. Many sea stars reproduce asexually by fragmentation. For example, if the arm of an individual sea star is broken off it will regenerate a new sea star. Fishery workers have been known to try to kill the sea stars that eat their clam or oyster beds by cutting them in half and throwing them back into the ocean.

Unfortunately for the workers, the two parts can each regenerate a new half, resulting in twice as many sea stars to prey upon the oysters and clams. Fragmentation also occurs in annelid worms, turbellarians, and poriferans. Note that in fragmentation, there is generally a noticeable difference in the size of the individuals, whereas in fission, two individuals of approximately the same size are formed.

Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction where an egg develops into a complete individual without being fertilized. The resulting offspring can be either haploid or diploid, depending on the process and the species. Parthenogenesis occurs in invertebrates such as water fleas, rotifers, aphids, stick insects, some ants, wasps, and bees. Bees use parthenogenesis to produce haploid males drones and diploid females workers.

If an egg is fertilized, a queen is produced. The queen bee controls the reproduction of the hive bees to regulate the type of bee produced. Some vertebrate animals, such as certain reptiles, amphibians, and fish, also reproduce through parthenogenesis. Although more common in plants, parthenogenesis has been observed in animal species that were segregated by sex in terrestrial or marine zoos.

Two Komodo dragons, a bonnethead shark, and a blacktip shark have produced parthenogenic young when the females have been isolated from males. Sexual reproduction is the combination of usually haploid, or having a single set of unpaired chromosomes reproductive cells from two individuals to form a third usually diploid, or having a pair of each type of chromosome unique offspring. Sexual reproduction produces offspring with novel combinations of genes.

A single individual can produce offspring asexually and large numbers of offspring can be produced quickly; these are two advantages that asexually reproducing organisms have over sexually reproducing organisms. In a stable or predictable environment, asexual reproduction is an effective means of reproduction because all the offspring will be adapted to that environment.

In an unstable or unpredictable environment, species that reproduce asexually may be at a disadvantage because all the offspring are genetically identical and may not be adapted to different conditions. During sexual reproduction, the genetic material of two individuals is combined to produce genetically diverse offspring that differ from their parents. The genetic diversity of sexually produced offspring is thought to give sexually reproducing individuals greater fitness because more of their offspring may survive and reproduce in an unpredictable or changing environment.

Species that reproduce sexually and have separate sexes must maintain two different types of individuals, males and females. Only half the population females can produce the offspring, so fewer offspring will be produced when compared to asexual reproduction.

This is a disadvantage of sexual reproduction compared to asexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction occurs in prokaryotic microorganisms bacteria and archaea and in many eukaryotic, single-celled and multi-celled organisms.

There are several ways that animals reproduce asexually, the details of which vary among individual species. Fission, also called binary fission, occurs in some invertebrate, multi-celled organisms. It is in some ways analogous to the process of binary fission of single-celled prokaryotic organisms. The term fission is applied to instances in which an organism appears to split itself into two parts and, if necessary, regenerate the missing parts of each new organism.

For example, species of turbellarian flatworms commonly called the planarians, such as Dugesia dorotocephala , are able to separate their bodies into head and tail regions and then regenerate the missing half in each of the two new organisms. Sea anemones Cnidaria , such as species of the genus Anthopleura Figure Budding occurs commonly in some invertebrate animals such as hydras and corals. In hydras, a bud forms that develops into an adult and breaks away from the main body Figure View this video to see a hydra budding.

Fragmentation is the breaking of an individual into parts followed by regeneration. If the animal is capable of fragmentation, and the parts are big enough, a separate individual will regrow from each part. Fragmentation may occur through accidental damage, damage from predators, or as a natural form of reproduction. Reproduction through fragmentation is observed in sponges, some cnidarians, turbellarians, echinoderms, and annelids. In some sea stars, a new individual can be regenerated from a broken arm and a piece of the central disc.

This sea star Figure Fisheries workers have been known to try to kill the sea stars eating their clam or oyster beds by cutting them in half and throwing them back into the ocean. Unfortunately for the workers, the two parts can each regenerate a new half, resulting in twice as many sea stars to prey upon the oysters and clams. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which an egg develops into an individual without being fertilized.

The resulting offspring can be either haploid or diploid, depending on the process in the species. Parthenogenesis occurs in invertebrates such as water fleas, rotifers, aphids, stick insects, and ants, wasps, and bees. Ants, bees, and wasps use parthenogenesis to produce haploid males drones.

The diploid females workers and queens are the result of a fertilized egg. Some vertebrate animals—such as certain reptiles, amphibians, and fish—also reproduce through parthenogenesis.

Parthenogenesis has been observed in species in which the sexes were separated in terrestrial or marine zoos. Two female Komodo dragons, a hammerhead shark, and a blacktop shark have produced parthenogenic young when the females have been isolated from males. It is possible that the asexual reproduction observed occurred in response to unusual circumstances and would normally not occur.