KINGSTON UPON HULL, England, March 24 (UPI) -- Researchers at Hull University in England recently happened upon a female cichlid "selfing" -- having sex with herself.
The fish, a hybrid of two cichlid species that at first appeared normal, had developed male sex organs. It impregnated itself, by ejecting sperm into the water and then sucking it into its mouth where eggs were waiting to be fertilized, producing four offspring. In the year following the remarkable discovery, the fish produced 42 more offspring by selfing.