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Fruit Fly Sperm Are Giant. How Do They Stay Untangled?

The New York Times • June 24, 2026 • science

Key Points:

Male fruit flies produce some of the longest sperm in the animal kingdom, with lengths up to two inches, about twenty times their body size and vastly longer than human sperm.
The extreme length of these sperm poses a physical challenge, as packing such long cells without tangling is difficult, yet the sperm avoid this problem.
A new study in Nature Physics examined the sperm of Drosophila melanogaster, a common laboratory fruit fly with sperm nearly as long as the fly itself.
Researchers observed that the sperm are arranged neatly in parallel rows within the sperm storage organ, moving together in a coordinated, wave-like motion rather than clumping randomly.
This organized packing likely helps prevent tangling and facilitates sperm movement, providing insight into the physical mechanisms behind sperm storage in these tiny flies.

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