Evidence for male alternative reproductive tactics in convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia) in Lake Xiloá, Nicaragua

Clotfelter, Ethan D.; Johnson, Elizabeth; Anderson, Caleb; Earley, Ryan L.

doi:10.1007/s10641-017-0593-2

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…We obtained these data for 53 species across all three data sets. Across these 53 species, sneaker frequency ranged from 2% of males in the cichlid Amatliana siquia (Clotfelter et al ., 2017), to 87% of males in the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus (Takegaki, Kaneko & Matsumoto, 2012), with an average of 39% (Fig. S5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male alternative reproductive tactics and sperm competition: a meta‐analysis

et al. 2022

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In many animal species, males may exhibit one of several discrete, alternative ways of obtaining fertilisations, known as alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs). Males exhibiting ARTs typically differ in the extent to which they invest in traits that improve their mating success, or the extent to which they face sperm competition. This has led to the widespread prediction that males exhibiting ARTs associated with a high sperm competition risk, or lower investment into traits that improve their competitiveness before mating, should invest more heavily into traits that improve their competitiveness after mating, such as large ejaculates and high-quality sperm. However, despite many studies investigating this question since the 1990s, evidence for differences in sperm and ejaculate investment between male ARTs is mixed, and there has been no quantitative summary of this field. Following a systematic review of the literature, we performed a meta-analysis examining how testes size, sperm number and sperm traits differ between males exhibiting ARTs that face either a high or low sperm competition risk, or high or low investment in traits that increase mating success. We obtained data from 92 studies and 67 species from across the animal kingdom. Our analyses showed that male fish exhibiting ARTs facing a high sperm competition risk had significantly larger testes (after controlling for body size) than those exhibiting tactics facing a low sperm competition risk. However, this effect appears to be due to the inappropriate use of the gonadosomatic index as a body-size corrected measure of testes investment, which overestimates the difference in testes investment between male tactics in most cases. We found no significant difference in sperm number between males exhibiting different ARTs, regardless of whether sperm were measured from the male sperm stores or following ejaculation. We also found no significant difference in sperm traits between males exhibiting different ARTs, with the exception of sperm adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content in fish. Finally, the difference in post-mating investment between male ARTs was not influenced by the extent to which tactics were flexible, or by the frequency of sneakers in the population. Overall, our results suggest that, despite clear theoretical predictions, there is little evidence that male ARTs differ substantially in investment into sperm and ejaculates across species. The incongruence between theoretical and empirical results could be explained if (i) theoretical models fail to account for differences in overall resource levels between males exhibiting different ARTs or fundamental trade-offs between investment into different ejaculate and sperm traits, and (ii) studies often use sperm or ejaculate traits that do not reflect overall post-mating investment accurately or affect fertilisation success.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male alternative reproductive tactics and sperm competition: a meta‐analysis

et al. 2022

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“…Recent genetic analyses of convict cichlid broods in Río Cabuyo show evidence of multiple maternity, multiple paternity, and wholesale adoption of young unrelated to either parent providing care [13]. An alternative "sneaker" male morph has been observed in Laguna de Xiloá in Nicaragua [14]. Clearly, the mating system of this species is one of social monogamy but not genetic monogamy.…”

Section: Broods Of Mixed Parentage and Intraspecific Brood Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In Costa Rican streams they emerge from the lair at a size of 4.5-5.0 SL and begin exogenous feeding on the substrate, all the while guarded by both parents. There is genetic [13] and morphological [14] evidence that convict cichlids are socially monogamous but not necessarily genetically monogamous. How the genetic structure of families may affect parental care has not been explored.…”

Section: Mating System Of Convict Cichlids In Costa Rican Streamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Predation on Shaping Parental Brood Defense and Larval Ontogeny of Convict Cichlids Leading to Population Divergence

Wisenden

2020

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(1) Predation selects for antipredator competence in prey. For fishes with parental care, brood predators exert selection on the morphological phenotype of offspring, and also exert strong selection pressure to promote parental care behavior of adults. (2) This review summarizes field and lab studies on the ontogeny of antipredator competence in convict cichlids, a freshwater fish with extended biparental care of their free-swimming young. (3) Here, data show that differences in swimming performance between small and large young are exploited by parents when they adopt (smaller) young. Velocity and acceleration of startle responses improves nonlinearly with body size, increasing rapidly at a point when the skeleton rapidly ossifies from cartilage to bone, at the size at which discrimination by adopting parents shifts, and the timing of change in the rate of change in area protected by parents. Convict cichlids in a Nicaraguan lake population showed a similar correlation among these traits, but these traits are delayed relative to Costa Rican fish. (4) Population divergence is likely explained by relatively more intense brood predation in the lake, which selects for different optima of larval antipredator competence and parental brood defense.

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Evidence for male alternative reproductive tactics in convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia) in Lake Xiloá, Nicaragua

Cited by 2 publications

References 40 publications

Male alternative reproductive tactics and sperm competition: a meta‐analysis

Male alternative reproductive tactics and sperm competition: a meta‐analysis

Effect of Predation on Shaping Parental Brood Defense and Larval Ontogeny of Convict Cichlids Leading to Population Divergence

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