Many biologists (myself included) don’t anthropomorphize animals because it’s impossible to objectively quantify things like “culture”. So, my opinion is that some fish change sex, and not their gender (because fish don’t have genders, which are human social constructs).
Happy to be corrected if I’m off-base. I’m not an ichthyologist.
‘Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender.’
How do fish change their gender? Are there really smart fishes having formed social constructs related to their sex?
I’m not an expert, but I imagine when they change sex, their behaviour changes accordingly.
They don’t need to understand social constructs - they’re changing gender as a result of changing sex.
Many biologists (myself included) don’t anthropomorphize animals because it’s impossible to objectively quantify things like “culture”. So, my opinion is that some fish change sex, and not their gender (because fish don’t have genders, which are human social constructs).
Happy to be corrected if I’m off-base. I’m not an ichthyologist.
Patterns of behavior typically tied to one sex or the other. Like doing mating dances or building nests.
I agree that terminology is important - the original author surely meant “some fish change sexes”.