# Are Sperm little muscles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2006, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944 "2006-09-16T09:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![trudginup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b3f665/32.png) [@trudginup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trudginup)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/1 "2006-09-16T09:53:17Z")
Are Sperm little muscles? :o ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/2 "2006-09-16T10:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=trudginup] Are Sperm little muscles? :o [/QUOTE] No. Next question. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/3 "2006-09-16T11:13:07Z")
They must (I think) have muscles to get those tails thrashing furiously on the long swim to that there egg. “C’mon boys last one there’s a dead 'un…gasp, gasp, thrash. gasp, whew” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/4 "2006-09-16T12:43:59Z")
[Sperm wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen) - Warning very TMIsh kind of pic See flagellum [SPERM MOTILITY](http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gross/bioed/webmodules/spermmotility.htm) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/5 "2006-09-16T12:45:29Z")
fixed lnk [See flagellum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellum) ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/6 "2006-09-16T12:47:58Z")
No. Muscles use a certain structure of interleaved fibrils operating through interaction of actin and myosin. This is hardly the only way biological organisms generate mechanical motion. To find out more, Google “cilia” (aka “eukaryotic flagella”), “flagella”, “centrioles” or “microtubules” or “MTOC” (“MicroTubule Organizing Center”) or “Spermatozoan” and compare the ROTARY structures you find with the LINEAR motion produced by Actin/Myosin systems (yeah, google “actin” or “myosin”, too) I bet Wikipedia has a lot under these terms. Truly, this is not meant as a rude “use Google, you moron” response. I just want to give you some non-obvious search terms leading to useful resources. I simply don’t have the patience at the moment to write a long essay comparing the mechanisms. Sorry. I’m long-winded at the best of times. It’s a failing. However, if you are not feeling that ambituous, just understand that sperm cells and many other eukayotic (nucleated) cells throughout the human body use molecular “engines” that produce rotary motion. Prokaryotic cells (living cells without nuclei like bacteria) also have rotary mechanisms, but most often different ones than eukaryotes use. True “muscles” (in humans and most multicellular organisms that come to mind) on the other hand operate “linearly” – meaning that they use interleaved rodlike protein chains that slide along one another (vs “spinning”). There are also several other mecahnisms of molecular motion, as well. For example, within most cells, especially mammalian cells, there are actin/mysosin systems that operate by “crawling” along a fibril, using a mechanism that is, on a moilecualr scale, very similar to the one used by muscles, but a muscle cell uses many thousands of actin and myosin chains, arrayed in parallel, to generate a coordinate efficient linear motion,while the intracellular motion of many cellular components may use a small myosin cluster to crawl along a single long actin chain. (Such chains are arranged in an irregular “spider web” thoughout most human cell, and are found as long straight chains along, e,g the axons of nerve cells). There are several other proteins or paired partners used in biological “molecular engines” as well, such as ribonin/dynein. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/7 "2006-09-16T12:49:58Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] They must (I think) have muscles to get those tails thrashing furiously on the long swim to that there egg. “C’mon boys last one there’s a dead 'un…gasp, gasp, thrash. gasp, whew” [/QUOTE] Actually, I don’t think being 11th place finisher or next-to-last is going to do you much good either. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/8 "2006-09-16T16:49:00Z")
[QUOTE=astro] [Sperm wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen) - Warning very TMIsh kind of pic [/QUOTE] I clicked on that thinking “Psh, can’t be that bad.” Not what I was expecting at all :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/9 "2006-09-16T20:10:43Z")
[QUOTE=FlyingRamenMonster] I clicked on that thinking “Psh, can’t be that bad.” Not what I was expecting at all :eek: [/QUOTE] Hehe, same here. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/10 "2006-09-16T21:29:28Z")
Wait a minute: are the flagellum of spermatazoa rotary? The wiki flagellum link didn’t say explicitly. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/11 "2006-09-16T21:41:03Z")
[Diagram of sperm cell](http://www.ul.ie/~equines/Lecture%209-10%20Folliculogenesis%20and%20Oogenesis_files/image014.jpg) [Animation showing rotation of flagellum](http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/spermmot.htm) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/12 "2006-09-16T23:50:56Z")
[QUOTE=astro] [Sperm wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen) - Warning very TMIsh kind of pic [/QUOTE] I love how they had to qualify the second caption, by stating that the horse semen was “collected for breeding purposes.” ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/13 "2006-09-17T00:01:08Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I love how they had to qualify the second caption, by stating that the horse semen was “collected for breeding purposes.” [/QUOTE] Ah, wiki. “See also: Cumshot.” ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/14 "2006-09-17T04:57:16Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3] Actually, I don’t think being 11th place finisher or next-to-last is going to do you much good either. [/QUOTE] Well maybe not but 11th outta millions is better than crawling in last 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/15 "2006-09-18T02:56:19Z")
Er, the point here is really that being number two has pretty much the same result as being number gazillion, no? This is a whoosh, no? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/16 "2006-09-18T03:00:30Z")
[QUOTE=Civil Guy] Er, the point here is really that being number two has pretty much the same result as being number gazillion, no? This is a whoosh, no? [/QUOTE] My fraternal twin brother is older than me. While it could be argued that my life has been a bit of a wash (hell, I argue it all the time) it still beats being number gazillion. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/17 "2006-09-18T04:28:11Z")
Point taken. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/18 "2006-09-18T05:08:49Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] My fraternal twin brother is older than me. While it could be argued that my life has been a bit of a wash (hell, I argue it all the time) it still beats being number gazillion. 😉 [/QUOTE] Just because he popped out first doesn’t mean his egg was fertilized first. You might have been number one. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/19 "2006-09-18T07:20:11Z")
You are number 6 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944/20 "2006-09-18T14:52:10Z")
[QUOTE=astro] [Sperm wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen) - Warning very TMIsh kind of pic [/QUOTE] Is it just me, or does that first image sort of resemble a rear view of an extremely saucy Statue of Liberty? Something like a Statue of Giggity-Giggity, I guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sperm-little-muscles/372944.md?page=2)