Question

What are hermaphrodites?

Answer 1

The hermaphrodite organisms are also known as bisexual or monoecious organisms. These organisms show both self-fertilization and cross-fertilization.

Complete answer:
A hermaphrodite is an organism that has partial or complete reproductive organs and can produce gametes of both male and female sexes. Most animals such as invertebrates do not have separate sexes, this condition is hermaphroditism, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner acts as a male or a female.
For example earthworms, snails and slugs are hermaphrodite. Some fishes are also hermaphrodite and very less numbers invertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites. The number of animal species is about 5% of hermaphrodites.
In botany, hermaphrodite is used to describe a flower that has both a male pollen-producing part (staminate) and female ovule producing parts (carpellate). Hermaphrodite can be seen in many common garden plants.
The species in which an individual is born as one sex but can later change into the opposite sex are called sequential hermaphrodites. It is common in some fish, gastropods, and some flowering plants. Subsequential hermaphrodites can only change once and can be divided into three categories as follows-

Protandry: In this condition, the male reproductive system matures first and the female reproductive system matures later.
For example- Clownfish, coriander, jasmine, and sunflower.
Protogyny: In this condition, the female reproductive system matures first and the male reproductive system matures later.
For example- Protogyny is commonly found in Wrasses a group of reef fish and rose and tobacco.
Bidirectional sex changers- When an organism has both the male and female reproductive organs but acts either as a male or female.
For example- Lythrypnus Dalli a group of coral reefs.
A simultaneous hermaphrodite is seen in the adult organism that has both the male and female sex organs at the same time. Self-fertilization occurs in a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Earthworms and snail’s banana slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites.

Note: The self-fertilization is the mode of fertilization that involves the fusion of male and female gametes coming from the same individual. Cross-fertilization is the mode of fertilization that involves the fusion of male and female gametes that comes from two different individuals.
To prevent self-fertilization in hermaphrodite organisms, they exhibit protandry and protogyny.