'There's not much going on at the back of these fish'

摘要

Here's a literal way to get a head start in the reproduction game. The Phallostethus cuulong fish wears its genitals just beneath its mouth (see picture] P. cuulong is a newly discovered species of priapiumfish, a little-known group of Asian fish all similarly endowed. It was discovered in July 2009 by Koichi Shibukawa of the Nagao Natural Environment Foundation in Tokyo, Japan. He saw one swimming alone in a canal near the Mekong river in Vietnam, and managed to catch it in a net (Zootaxa, vol 3363, p 45). Male priapiumf ish don't have a penis. Instead they have a unique organ called a priapium, which faces backwards and looks like a muscular nozzle. It is actually a modification of the fish's pectoral and pelvic fins.