SWIMMERS: Mating



This is not exactly X-rated material, even though you may have started wondering by this time.  Since swimmers are conveniently rendered as wiggling hieroglyphic biomorphs, there's not really much anatomy there that would give one a sense of voyeurism.  These swimmers are also genderless, or unisex - if you will.  There are no males or females.  Also, the actual act of mating consists of nothing more than the pursuing swimmer's proboscis coming in contact with its desired mate.  A little birth sound is heard and an egg or two appear at the juncture, which quickly grows into an adult swimmer.  The offspring inherit some combination of each parent's genes.  



Mutation

When a swimmer is born, there is a slight chance of mutation among a few of its genes.  This is usually hardly noticed, because the mutation is usually small.  But some mutations are big, such as having an extra limb or changing color.  



Sexual Attraction

Swimmers don't just mate with anybody.  They are selective.  What turns a swimmer on?  Simple: Swimmers' bodies consist of combinations of the following 6 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.  If I'm a swimmer, I'm attracted to swimmers with colors similar to mine.  



For instance, a swimmer with lots of blue in its body will look for a mate who also has lots of blue in its body.  The "bluer" the potential mate, the more attractive it is.  If that swimmer can't find any swimmers with blue, it will settle for a bit of green or violet in a pinch.  This is because green and violet are close to blue, in the standard artist's color wheel of primary and secondary colors (NOTE that the last color: violet is followed by the first color: red, in the color wheel).  



As you might expect, solid-colored swimmers turn out to be the most attractive ones to other swimmers in the Pond, and so they get chosen for mating most often.  This is why populations usually become homogenous in color after long periods of time.  



More Body: More Color: More Sexy

Think about it: a yellow swimmer with two limbs living in a mostly-yellow population will be perceived as attractive by that population.  Now, what if that swimmer mates with an identical swimmer and has a baby with a chance mutation causing it to have three limbs?  That baby will grow up to be even more attractive than its parents, in the eyes of the population.  You could say it was a "lucky" mutation.  Why? This is because swimmers on the hunt for mates respond to the "amount" of its favorite color in potential mates.  Three legs of yellow are better than two.  The more body the potential mate has, the more colors it can flaunt to its admirers.  