Category: Fish
This distinctive ray is native to the Xingu River basin in Brazil, a tributary of the Amazon River. They are thought to dwell primarily on rocky river bottoms. They are very rare species and are threatened by habitat loss due to an increase in gold-mining, fisheries, logging, agriculture expansion, and dam construction in its Xingu River Basin home.
ABC. It’s easy as Protandry
The largest, most aggressive female anemonefish rules the roost - she is the dominant member of the social group, and with one breeding male, the only one who reproduces. In anemonefish society, everybody knows where they stand in the hierarchy! So when she leaves the group, everybody moves up one spot - including the largest, most aggressive male, who undergoes a sex change to become the leader (and breeding female) of the group. While undergoing a sex change might sound drastic to humans, it is actually not all that uncommon in other species. Many do it, either naturally or due to environmental factors: fish, invertebrates, amphibians, some reptiles, even the occasional chicken!
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