Bluegills in Drag

Boy, read about the life cycle and behavorial details of bluegills, and you start realizing that gender ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially in nature. Eric Sharp explains why “sneakers” turn into drag queens to get the job done in a bluegill pond. “Eventually they’re as big as mature females and normally would draw attacks from bigger males. But then something amazing happens, says Brian Neff, a researcher at the University of Western Ontario in London. The sneaker’s body produces a big jolt of estrogen, and it takes on the color of a mature female.” In the Detroit Free Press.