I am educated as a marine biologist, researching coral reefs all over Australia, Indonesia, and Mexico, on the genetics of reef species. I recently championed LGBT+ rights as an advocate, from curating LGBT+ tours to organizing IDAHOT events. I argued that there is much about sexuality and gender expression that we can learn from the oceans. Here, I’ll share with you some of my favorite stories of kinky marine sex and behavior.
You are likely familiar with the Disney Pixar story of Finding Nemo. Nemo, despite being hampered by a lame right fin, is eager to explore life around the ocean. Marlin, however, is an overprotective dad, having lost his wife Coral and all their other eggs in a barracuda attack; leaving Nemo as his only child. Clownfish begin life as male, but can all carry both female and male reproductive organs. In any given community, the female is the largest fish, the breeding male is the second-largest, and the rest are sexually immature males. These immature males can turn into females if the alpha female dies. So in the real world, when Nemo’s mother died, Nemo’s dad Marlin would have transitioned into Marlene — and Nemo would have likely mated with his father turned mother. That’s a pretty cool MTF (Male to Female) sex change right there. Should his father die, Nemo would transition into a female and mate with another male. There are many more species who change sex in the marine world -from groupers and moray eels to gobies and wrasses.
Another fascinating species that I really like are corals. Coral species have a varied sex life. The majority of species are simultaneously male and female (hermaphrodites) and typically pack both eggs and sperm (gametes) into tight, buoyant bundles that are released after dark with remarkable synchronisation. The bundles float to the surface and open, allowing the eggs to meet compatible sperm. In human terms, imagine these are intersex individuals capable of reproduction both as male and female in a mass orgy! How weird is that! Mass spawnings are spectacular events, in which dozens of coral species release their gametes at specific times. Sometimes more than 100 species spawn on a single night, or over a few successive nights. Now that’s some strange marine porn.
Intersex individuals are not limited to corals. Many varieties of intersex conditions are found in marine mammals such as dolphins, whales, and seals. For instance, more than 50% of Right Whales, 80–95% of New Zealand Sea Lions, and North Elephant Seals never mate or reproduce with the opposite sex throughout their entire lives.
Besides sex itself, homosexual behaviour is frequently observed in marine species. Both female and male bottlenose dolphins display homosexual behaviour, including oral action where one dolphin stimulates the other with its snout. In the bottlenose world, homosexual activity occurs with about the same frequency as heterosexual play. Male bottlenose dolphins are generally bisexual — but they do go through periods of being exclusively homosexual. Similarly, the Amazon River Dolphin has only male homosexual behaviour and their mating includes three types of penetrative sex (anal, genital slit, or blowhole). So yes, marine animals are much more fluid in sexuality than we thought!
Sometimes, the homosexual behaviour is not only for pleasure but is also useful for attracting mates. In many species, females are attracted to large, conspicuous males. Among animals with many partners, however, males that manage to mate with more than one female can increases their chances of attracting others even if they aren’t as conspicuous. In some species of fish, smaller, less flashy males can win over females by flirting with larger males. Researchers worked with the tropical freshwater fish Poecilia mexicana. Females were shown video footage of small, drab-colored males nipping the genital openings of larger, brightly colored males, an action which precedes mating in opposite-sex fish pairs. After witnessing this behaviour, the female fish indicated their newly awakened interest by spending more time swimming near the images of the less impressive males. The finding suggests that homosexual behavior can enhance a male’s ability to pass on his genes by attracting females that wouldn’t be interested in him otherwise.
Homosexuality is a fact present in many animal species, and is documented in 1,500 of the over 1 million described animal species. Like many complex issues, animal homosexuality is challenging and poorly understood. Therefore, educators tend to shy away from covering it in their teaching. Many scientists don’t even want to be associated with this type of research. However, I argue that the diversity of sexual expression and behaviour in the marine world is as common as that in the human species, is definitely worth studying and deserves attention. What better way to disprove the claim that homosexuality is “unnatural”, by observing just how common the same sex act or behaviour can be in nature itself. In many cases, as I’ve shown through examples, this is part of species survival. Therefore we should celebrate the diversity of sex lives out there, whether they breathe air or water.