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The biologically universal definition of male and female.?
I d like to ask what the biologically universal definition of male and female is. I ve heard that seahorses have a bit of an unusual situation, where the males are the ones who give the equivalent of birth.
So how exactly do we know which is male and which is female? What metric tells me how to identify sex, if I were to discover a completely foreign species with a reproductive system and process completely different than my own?
Is it based on concave and convex organs?
Is it based on chromosomes or genetics?
Is it based on the sex that carries the mitochondrion?
1 Answer
- Cal KingLv 76 years agoFavorite Answer
Female is the sex that produces ova. An ovum must contain the cytoplasm, and biochemicals needed for the zygote to develop into an organism. Male is the sex the produces sperm (or pollen), which will contribute only genetic material (DNA) but not any cytoplasm to the zygote. The universal symbol for male is ♂ (the arrow signals mobility) because the male gamete is mobile since it is the gamete that is on the move, in search of an egg to fertilize. The female gamete is stationary and the symbol is ♀.
