Science Memes

11189 readers

3732 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

563

salmon (mander.xyz)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 309 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

Why?

The goals of the Salmon change when they reach mating age. Now they don't need to survive in the ocean, they need to make sperm/eggs and survive the long trip to their birthplace. This trip is through fresh water lakes and rivers. That is a very different environment from the ocean. They will need to jump/swim up waterfalls. They will need to avoid predators, but very different ones than they faced in the ocean.At the end of their journey they will mate and die.

Because the goals and environmental pressures change so much the Salmon must also change to meet those new challenges. If they didn't they wouldn't be as successful in reaching their final destination and making more Salmon.

How?

Just like humans, hormones trigger biological changes. The change to fresh water also triggers changes and a countdown clock. The changes use a lot of energy, as does their trip and mating. Their body will literally consume itself to make the changes and meet the challenges it needs to so that the salmon make it home to mate.

In case anyone was curious

[–] [email protected] 136 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If there’s one person on lemmy that I trust for my aquatic animal info, it’s sharkfucker420

[–] Skullgrid 33 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I would also trust them with knowledge on marijuana

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

They dropped the weed for communism on my end

[–] [email protected] 67 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thank you. My takeaway is that this is salmon puberty. I wonder if they, too, stare at themselves naked in the bathroom mirror and feel weird.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They do. But then, they jump up a waterfall and die :(

[–] danc4498 19 points 7 months ago

#LifeGoals

[–] Event_Horizon5 30 points 7 months ago (1 children)

But why do pacific salmon go through all these changes and die after mating only once, while Atlantic salmon can do the same thing but survive to mate many years in a row?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago

the cruel joke of evolution