Sexual Parasitism

[JPrescott]

Diflagella mascapto was inspired by an adaptation of the deep sea anglerfish in which the smaller male attaches and fuses itself to the massive female and leech off her nutrients- in turn, the female is provided sperm for reproduction.
In D. mascapto, the males have sacrificed the ability to feed in place of producing an enzyme necessary for fertilization. After attachment, males will initially wiggle around to discourage other males from attaching. Afterwards, they grow then enter a form of stasis to conserve energy.
The larger females reproduce parthenogenetically and need an enzyme to be fertilized. They have a pair of attachment points at the bottom that could support two males each. Females continuously swim forward, avoiding obstacles and themselves.

~I made a variant where only the secrocyte remains after attaching and another where the male gets absorbed entirely. Between these, I experimented with different ways males are produced and how long they last on their own. I ultimately settled with this simply for the fact that they will remain still once they're full and not interfere so much with the swimming.
~A common issue is when a gluocyte sticks to whatever it's not supposed to, creating a mess of tangled cells- especially when the substrate is full.
~Another issue is the male's pathetically short lifespan on its own. I haven't found a way around this without sacrificing its ability to 'enter stasis'.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qnbj7hsyuex0p ... trate?dl=0

[H4yw1r3]

Do double brains work on the males?

[WhatTheSillyName]

Although there are some issues, this is awesome!

[JPrescott]

Do double brains work on the males?

They could possibly. The problem is that the stemocyte from which they come from contains so little nutrients, they die when cells divide even further.

[JPrescott]

Although there are some issues, this is awesome!

Thank you!

[H4yw1r3]

The organism's cool even with the said issues. I just wished that you could see the male clearly while not mating. Some newborn males mate immediately once they dettach from their parent.

[wapcaplet]

Excellent design! I love the layout of the female especially, with spots for the males to nestle into and stick for certain fertilization.

The male swimmers are short-lived I think because they are born directly from a stemocyte egg, which isn't as packed with energy as a lipocyte egg would be.

Here is one approach to making them stronger: I used the M15 stemocyte's secondary differentiation channel, triggered on the cell's age (when it is about 24h old) to become an M30 "male egg", which is a lipocyte, and can have its own split mass to make the male as mass-packed as needed.

Also I liked your idea of the males being absorbed into the female, so I changed the nutrient priorities to make that possible. The male isn't very useful after fertilization anyway, so it makes sense for them to give their energy to the female, who really needs it. They seek yellow, so will try to fertilize eggs, and/or swim into the gluocytes.

Finally I replaced the wall-avoidance behavior with food-seeking behavior, and reduced the nutrients, since they didn't need quite such a rich environment.

Here is my modified organism on a substrate. The yellow egg will become a light pink male egg in just a few more hours of observation.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/075k911klfvwj ... trate?dl=0

[JPrescott]

Excellent design! I love the layout of the female especially, with spots for the males to nestle into and stick for certain fertilization.

The male swimmers are short-lived I think because they are born directly from a stemocyte egg, which isn't as packed with energy as a lipocyte egg would be.

Here is one approach to making them stronger: I used the M15 stemocyte's secondary differentiation channel, triggered on the cell's age (when it is about 24h old) to become an M30 "male egg", which is a lipocyte, and can have its own split mass to make the male as mass-packed as needed.

Also I liked your idea of the males being absorbed into the female, so I changed the nutrient priorities to make that possible. The male isn't very useful after fertilization anyway, so it makes sense for them to give their energy to the female, who really needs it. They seek yellow, so will try to fertilize eggs, and/or swim into the gluocytes.

Finally I replaced the wall-avoidance behavior with food-seeking behavior, and reduced the nutrients, since they didn't need quite such a rich environment.

Here is my modified organism on a substrate. The yellow egg will become a light pink male egg in just a few more hours of observation.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/075k911klfvwj ... trate?dl=0

This is awesome! Your modifications fuctionally make much more sense.