Been on a bit of a buying spree lately.

[Fundulopanchax76]

I said that corys have oral sex a few months ago in a local internet page in my country, so maybe this statement of mine is much before facebook discusions. But that is not important. Its possible african mouthbreeding cichlids fertilize their eggs in female mouth too. So oral sex is valuable in fish world ! LOL

[bekateen]

Its possible african mouthbreeding cichlids fertilize their eggs in female mouth too. So oral sex is valuable in fish world ! LOL

You are absolutely right about other fish using the mouth during sex. Of course the difference between mouthbreeders and corys is that in some species (a lot of them?), female mouthbreeders have the eggs in the mouth where they can be fertilized. But female corys don't put their eggs in their mouths.

I would imagine that one great benefit of using the mouth to direct sperm on the eggs is that the mouth holds the sperm in a small volume of fluid, so that the sperm aren't washed away by water currents. Although obviously there are a great number of fish that spawn in moving water without losing too many sperm cells, perhaps these various oral sex behaviors just add a level of efficiency, certainty and energy savings to the fish (males wouldn't need to make as many sperm, although "sperm are cheap" in an energetic sense when compared to the cost of making eggs.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Seven weeks along and looking good.

Corydoras duplicareus 7 weeks old

Cheers, Eric