Doing it like the fishes...

A team of scientists led by an Australian have discovered that the first creatures to have sex were odd little fish called Microbrachius Dicki (no, I’m not making it up) which seems to be the first animal to actually reproduce by, um, coupling…

Usually fish simply put sperm and eggs into the water and let them find their own way to each other, but our Microbrachius Dicki male has a sideways version of genitalia which he could ‘lock into’ the female in a slightly weird sideways mating game.  The female, in turn, was roughly made (like a cheese grater) to ensure that things stayed locked together, like Velcro.  Sadly (but perhaps understandably) this didn’t’ seem to catch on, and fish went back to the spawning method for a few million years until sharks and rays had another go at pairing up.

Everybody seems to have got the hang of it now though, eh?