A newly discovered sea slug adds a special something to mating: simultaneous forehead piercing. Found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the new species of hermaphroditic sea slug has the double set of penile organs typical of Siphopteron slugs. Yet the new slugs deploy them in a novel way, says marine behavioral ecologist Rolanda Lange of Monash University in Clayton, Australia. When the as-yet-unnamed slugs mate, one organ delivers the sperm to the female opening on another slug's body. Seconds after partners position their structures for simultaneous sperm transfer, the slugs each insert a second organ, a needlelike stylet. Each slug plunges it like a syringe into the area around the other's eyes, Lange and her colleagues report November 13 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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