re: Two lifeforms merge in once-in-a-billion-years evolutionary event

quote:

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I’m not sure why, but this sentence terrifies me on some weird existential level, as if some alien organism could use me as its internal organ.

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You know anglerfish, right? The ugly, deep sea fish that gave me nightmares as a kid? The female has the lamp post hanging off the top of her head. The male is a fraction of her size and spends his early life just wandering around in the endless darkness of the deep ocean looking for the sexy glow from that lamp post. He eventually finds her, nuzzles up nice and close, and gets comfortable. Over time he fuses to the female. As time goes on, the female eventually absorbs him. He's still alive, as a being, he's just inside of her. She doesn't need him for conversation under lamp post light, and it is pretty easy to get lost in the dark, so she just absorbs him so that he is always with her.