Male Fish Grow Mustaches to Lure the Ladies

Pimpin' Mexican Mollies sport growths on upper lips
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2010 12:27 PM CDT
Male Fish Grow Mustaches to Lure the Ladies
A Black Molly.   (Wikimedia Commons)

Cue the '70s porn music: Male Mexican Mollies who sport something resembling a mustache are a hit with their female counterparts. Physorg describes the newly discovered mustache as a "series of epidermal outgrowths" on the upper lip of the small freshwater fish. US and German researchers tried to figure out the growth's purpose and concluded it's "a previously unrecognized sexually selected trait." Females prefer mustachioed mates, and one researcher thinks the 'stache is used as a lovemaking tool.
(More fish stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X