19일 UPI의 보도에 따르면 호주의 과학자들이 지구상에서 최초의 짝짓기를 행한 생물체를 밝혀냈다고 한다.
판피강 척추 동물의 한 종류인 마이크로브라키우스 디키(Microbrachius dicki)가 바로 그 주인공으로, 쉽게는 딱딱한 껍질을 가진 물고기를 상상하면 된다. 이 물고기들은 스코틀랜드의 물가에 살았으며, 화석연구에 의해 생식기를 가진 최고(最古) 생물인 것으로 밝혀졌다.
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Scottish fish were the first to have sex, study finds
Scientists out of Australia believe they have discovered the first animal to have ever had sex.
The Microbrachius dicki, of the placoderm species, were armored fish that lived in the waters near Scotland and appear to be the oldest known animal with reproductive organs necessary for sex, as was found by studying fossils.
"The very first act of copulation was done sideways, square-dance style," John Long, professor of palaeontology at Flinders University in Adelaide, said to The Guardian. The animals performed sex this way because of the odd shape of their reproductive organs; the male had an L-shaped sex organ and the female a cheese grater-like organ, according to Long. The male reportedly had small, bony arms meant for grasping the female during intercourse.
The animals lived as long as 430 million years ago and went extinct around 360 million years ago.
The original study can be found in the journal Nature. (UPI)
