Honorable mentions in the Bizarre Breeding Sweepstakes go to the grouper, a species of fish that is female until it reaches maturity, at which point it can switch back and forth between genders. The anglerfish gets a nod too. They all seemed to be female, until researchers realized the little parasites clinging to them were actually anglerfish males. And male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant, carrying the developing young in a pouch on their front. There isn’t much romance in any of this, but as with so much in the natural world, what’s lost in poetry is more than amply made up in imagination.
Critters So Ugly They Have to Mate With Themselves
Immaculate conception may be something special among humans, but in the animal kingdom, it's always been part of the mix