{"id":2190842,"date":"2026-05-02T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190842"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:25:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:25:50","slug":"rearing-up-each-reveals-its-two-pronged-penis-meet-the-creature-that-fences-with-an-unusual-body-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/rearing-up-each-reveals-its-two-pronged-penis-meet-the-creature-that-fences-with-an-unusual-body-part\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRearing up, each reveals its two-pronged penis.\u201d Meet the creature that fences with an unusual body part"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"sprylab_purple_content\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"purple-inner-container purple-content-body-inner\">\n<p>The ruffled flatworm\u00a0<em>Pseudobiceros bedfordi<\/em>\u00a0(also known as the Persian carpet flatworm or Bedford\u2019s flatworm) can be hard to spot with the human eye as they make their way through the reefs of the Indo-West Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>But individuals can recognise other members of their own species through their distinctive patterns, which prevents\u00a0cross-species mating\u00a0\u2013 and for good reason, as they have one of the most\u00a0unique mating rituals in the natural world.<\/p>\n<p>Like many other flatworms in its genus, the Persian carpet flatworm is hermaphroditic and capable of both fertilising eggs and injecting sperm.<\/p>\n<p>Each flatworm wants to avoid the burden of looking after fertilised eggs, so any encounter between two flatworms quickly becomes a duel, with each trying to \u201cstab and inseminate the other without being stabbed first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The flatworms only stop fencing once one has been impregnated, with the victor passing on its genes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe id=\"422058119\" title=\"Meet the penis-fencing flatworm | The Mating Game \u2013 BBC\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VHOFQri1Tjw?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.discoverwildlife.com\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-129157385_7=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-19=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/tv\/persian-carpet-flatworm-mating\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article\u00a0<\/a><\/em><em>by Sophie Ellis was first published by Discover Wildlife on 21 April 2026. Lead Image: Persian carpet flatworm swimming over a coral reef in Bali. Credit: hansgertbroeder\/Getty Images.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Help to protect wildlife<\/h2>\n<p><em>Protect wildlife by making a monthly donation as little as $5.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?default_interval=m&amp;amount=25\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">PROTECT WILDLIFE<\/a><script type=\"module\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/widgets.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It only takes a minute!<\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ruffled flatworm\u00a0Pseudobiceros bedfordi\u00a0(also known as the Persian carpet flatworm or Bedford\u2019s flatworm) can be hard to spot with the human eye as they make their way through the reefs of the Indo-West Pacific. But individuals can recognise other members of their own species through their distinctive patterns, which prevents\u00a0cross-species mating\u00a0\u2013 and for good reason, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2206014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-935241464.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[12787,12786,12788],"class_list":["post-2190842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-flatworm","tag-persian-carpet-flatworm","tag-pseudobiceros-bedfordi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2190842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2190842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2190842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2190842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}