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The secret sex life of seaweed revealed
August 18, 2002Melbourne researchers have revealed for the first time the sex lives of red seaweed using sophisticated time-lapse video microscopy.
"Until now, no one knew what exactly happens when these seaweeds become sexy," says University of Melbourne researcher, Dr Sarah Wilson.
"This is the first time we have observed their sex life in living cells."
"We found that some male red seaweeds release millions of sperm when there is less salt in the water and at high tide," Dr Wilson says. "The sperm travel on water currents to the female seaweed and attach to tiny hairs. The sperm then inject their DNA into the hairs and fertilise the egg which is found at the base of each hair."
Dr Wilson describes the first time she saw the sperm enter the female hairs as: "very beautiful - so precise and ordered. And it all happened at the microscope level where most of us never get to see it.
"Heaps of sperm land and compete with each other to get to the egg at the bottom of each hair," she says. "It's a bit like watching a nightclub scene."
The southeastern coast of Australia has the largest number of red algae species in the world, and they are found in every type of aquatic environment on earth.
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