Sexual ornamentation often consists of multiple components. Different sexual signals may indicate different aspects of mate quality or reflect quality in different time scales. On the other hand, same signals can have a dual function and are used both in male–male competition and courtship. Many fish species are capable of rapidly altering their colouration (ephemeral colour changes), but this capability is usually ignored in sexual selection studies. Here, we used experimentally manipulated social environments to study the ephemeral colour changes in multicomponent sexual signals of male minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) during male–male competition and female choice. We found that the dominant males courted the females more actively and had redder and/or darker skin colouration than the subordinate males. Furthermore, darkness difference between subordinate and dominant males increased in the presence of female, which suggests that the male–male competition may increase the honesty of signalling and thus facilitate female choice. In support of this hypothesis, females had a strong behavioural preference towards the more colourful males, which may indicate female choice. As colourful males often had a higher social status than paler individuals, it is possible that females base their preference on male status, not only the colouration per se. In any case, our results suggest that sexual ornamentation of male minnows may signal status, courting activity and superior quality of the males and that these signals may have a dual function in both male–male competition and female choice. Females preferred different ornamental traits (dark and red colour patterns) relatively equally, indicating that mate choice is based on multiple cues.
Sexual displays often involve many different signal components, which may give information about the same or different mate qualities. We studied the information content of different signals in male minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) and tested whether females are able to discriminate between males when only olfactory cues are present. We found that females preferred the odour of males with a more saturated (i.e., redder) belly, but only when the females had been in physical contact with the males before the experiments. Instead, when unfamiliar males were used, females did not discriminate between male odours and also the overall swimming activity (mate choice intensity) of the females was significantly lower. More ornamented males had lower number of Philometra ovata parasites (indicated by belly saturation) and Neoechinorhynchus rutili parasites (indicated by belly hue) than their less ornamented counterparts. We did not find experimental evidence for female odour preference being linked to belly hue and breeding tubercle number, but in the nature these traits were associated with the condition factor of the males. Taken together, our results suggest that belly colouration and breeding tubercles give honest information on several aspects of male quality. In addition females may learn the association between male colouration and their olfactory signals and utilize this information when visual signals are not present.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.