Flatworms are under Phylum
platyhelminthes with
- classes Turbellaria ( free living
flatworms)
- Trematoda (parasitic fluke)
and
- Cestoda (parasitic tapeworms).
Flatworms are ubiquitous in all
continents and aquatic environments. They are dorsoventrally
flattened , bilaterally symmetrical organisms, free living or
parasitic with few marine being hermaphrodite.
PREFERENCE TO BE MALE THAN
FEMALE:
- Flatworms are hermaphroditic with
both male and female reproductive organs in same organism and can
take up the parental role, based on who does the inseminating or
being inseminated.
- While mating the two organisms
glide over each other raising the front portion of their bodies and
the everted male organ protrude out of their bodies.
- The flatworms while mating in form
of a fight lasting for 30 minutes sometimes try to stab the other
with their male organ and the first who inseminate the other wins.
This is known as Fencing.
- During fencing the flatworms will
be stabbed multiple times.
- The one that deposits sperm into
the other will be emerged victorious completing the paternal
obligation.
- The flatworm that got inseminated
starts searching for food to making up the resources getting itself
prepared for motherhood and taking the pain of raising the young
and caring for eggs while the one which inseminate will be free of
any responsibility.
- After bearing and producing the
offspring, the mother flatworm then takes on another round of
brutal fencing, so that it do not become a mother again by taking
all the pain.
Hence flatworms prefer to be male
rather than female.