Feroda Newt Chow

From: Baron von Moosehsunchen <wapiti_at_olivia.cedar-rapids.ia.us>
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 99 22:55:37 CDT


& 1. When they reach sexual maturity they all start off female.
& 2. When the concentration of a certain hormone drops below a certain level
& female newtlings change sex.
& 3. The males produce this hormone. This would mean that in a given volume
& of water the number of Newtling males would stay roughly constant. Every
& time the number drops below this level new males are produced from the
& (vastly greater in number) females.

These are pretty neat ideas.

& 4. Some Newtlings never loose their gills or develop lungs. If there isn't
& a lot of competition for food the tadpoles stay in a neotenous (according
& to an old tropical fish magazine this means they're adult with some larval
& charateristics) state - developing arms and legs but still 100% aquatic.

Or maybe the females stay aquatic and never leave the breeding pools. Lots of ways to go here.

& [For a mechanism that could control this change, how about diet? If the
& Newtling tadpole eats it's prefered foods it will stay aquatic. The diet
& required to become a bachelor is something they wouldn't normally eat
& through choice (each other?) so only if food is really tight will they
& resort to it, triggering the change.]
&

Actually, I was thinking of the "each other" part last night. Perhaps the tads aren't sentient, but slowly develop awareness and understanding as they mature to the bachelor stage. Resources would be limited, and thus competition for food would be fierce. Tadpoles are often eaten by other tads (and perhaps sometimes by adult females wishing to weed out those least likely to survive).

This might be one of the reasons that newts keep their breeding pools so secret. "Jeez, they eat enough of our tails now. Don't let them know that we eat our own young!" Don't want to encourage those 'Domers....

Scotty

End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #432


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