if there were 3 sexes male,female and ____

[Leison]

there are organisms having no sex, hermaphrodite, etc. We have male and female i.e. 2 sexes . What would happen if there were 3 different sexes and to reproduce gametes were needed from all these sexes? What would be the life like? More complex? difficult?

[Primarygun]

Human will regulate their structure if they can't reproduce.

In this case, I think the third sex will do this if it can't since this is a common characteristic for all living organisms.

[LucidDreamer]

There is already a third sex in the human species. His name is Richard Simmons and his strange mating ritual is called Sweating to the Oldies.

[Guest HannonRJ]

"Breathes there a man with hide so tough, he thinks two sexes are not enough?" Samuel Hoffenstein

[JaKiri]

There's a description of a 3 sex society in Iain M Banks's Player of Games.

 

Of course, you could always turn to the Futurama Smizmar concept.

[ydoaPs]

there was a species with three sexes on Enterprise. I believe it was Cogenitor.

[Sayonara]

I believe you are correct.

[ydoaPs]

yay. i was right

[pulkit]

I wonder what reproduction would be like ?

The chances of 3 people mutually liking each are one-third that of just the 2 hitting it off together. A lot less population maybe.....that may be nice.

[ydoaPs]

in Cogeniter, the third sex was like a slave. they were considered a degenerate race.

[Leison]

i think except pulkit nobody got into the point that i was expecting. let's suppose there's no any superior or inferior sex. i'm talking about reproduction process and the life - how they would do sex to reproduce or love making,dating etc.i think it would be lot more difficult.

[pulkit]

Families for obvious reasons would be larger in size, but fewer in number....... a lot less housing perhaps but bigger houses for all.

[ydoaPs]

maybe it would be like fish. one releases eggs, another sperm, anonther something else.

[pulkit]

because of this weird system in fish and corals generally around mating season oceans fill up with excess sperm (especially when corals do it). That would certainly be really weird if replicated.

[apathy]

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov had creatures of 3 sexes

[Leison]

thanks for "pulkit" and "yourdad..." for ideas

 

but i didn't understand apathy. could u explain further more abt that "book or story or "?

[Irken_Link]

The third gender could use a mean of self-reproduting(altough they would be exactly like their parent).

However I have heard of females having only one x chromosone

[Mad Mardigan]

Threesomes are nice.

[Firedragon52]

Arggggg....The question seems so simple, but a well thought out answer seems so complicated. I lot of different factors would need to be considered. Like what would be the evolutionary benefit for a species with 3 sexes?

Hell, sometimes the 2 sex system seems fragile and unnecessary (sometimes).

How would the dynamics of this system work? Would each sex be able to breed with each other? Or would two sexes ONLY be able to breed with one of the sexes?

 

It even sounds complicated. So, I would think life would be more complex and competitive for this organism.

[ydoaPs]

reference the fish idea. seems simple enough there.

[Mad Mardigan]

Total Recall quote, "Baby, you make me wish I had 3 hands."

[Firedragon52]

reference the fish idea. seems simple enough there.

Yes and no. This problem seems alot more complicated to me. Think about it this way:

 

As far as I know, outside of asexual species, there is always an organism that creates eggs (female) and a organism that merely fertilizes these eggs (male). I'm just not comprehending how this third element could fit into this picture.

 

Like your example:

maybe it would be like fish. one releases eggs, another sperm, anonther something else.

OK...

So the fish that releases the eggs would be our "female".

The fish that releases the sperm would be our "male"

And the fish that releases this "something else" or "other" would be...what? Here is where it gets a little complicated for me.

 

This "other" that the fish released, would it..."interact" with other eggs, in that case you could say that it is merely another type of male.

 

Doe this "other" interact with the sperm? If it operates the same way as an egg does, than maybe this organism is another type of female.

 

But, if it interacts with both...it just gets confusing for me here.

 

I mean what would differentiate this gamete from a egg or sperm? Why would we need to call the organism, that produced it, something other than a male or a female?

[ydoaPs]

perhaps it could by a chemical to prepare the eggs for fertilization. it could be anything. this is entirely speculation

[Firedragon52]

perhaps it could by a chemical to prepare the eggs for fertilization. it could be anything. this is entirely speculation

Possibly, but if this chemical merely prepares the egg instead of fertilizing it, would it really be warranted to call this organism a third sex? To be considered a sex, I definitely think some swapping of chromosomes is in order, or else this third sex seems no more than a sterile helper (think worker bees).

[Mad Mardigan]

Person X would be the host, Y would release the sperm, and Z would release the egg, after combining in X, an XYZ = host, YYZ = sperm, and YZZ = egg.