Many cultures around the world leave room for more diversity and in some cases make room for a third gender — even a fourth. The Greeks and Romans were not only comfortable but also fascinated by the duality presented by the hermaphrodite. This famous statue of a sleeping hermaphrodite was found in Pompeii, one of two Roman towns destroyed in 79 AD by a volcanic eruption. It was not rediscovered for some years.
Teleosts are characterized by a remarkable breadth of sexual mechanisms including various forms of hermaphroditism. Sparidae is a fish family exhibiting gonochorism or hermaphroditism even in closely related species. The sparid Diplodus puntazzo sharpsnout seabream , exhibits rudimentary hermaphroditism characterized by intersexual immature gonads but single-sex mature ones.
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