Male mate preference and size‐assortative pairing in the convict cichlid

Beeching, Simon C.; Hopp, A. B.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.1999.tb00735.x

Cited by 35 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…For example, Basolo (2004) found that large males of the poeciliid fish Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora preferred large females, and small males preferred small females. Other studies have also found positive assortative mating for body size (Beeching & Hopp 1999;Ros et al 2003;Dosen & Montgomerie 2004). Our results, however, show negative assortative mating for body size in female B. splendens; small females preferred the large male stimulus, while large females preferred the small male stimulus.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 48%

Mate Choice and Spawning Success in the Fighting FishBetta splendens: the Importance of Body Size, Display Behavior and Nest Size

2006

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Courtship displays should be exaggerated enough to attract mates and yet tempered so as not to deter them. We tested this hypothesis in the fighting fish Betta splendens by studying courtship displays and body size and their relationships with male parental quality and female fecundity, as well as the effects of display behavior and body size on mate choice decisions and spawning success. Because of their high degree of parental investment, males are expected to be discriminating in their choice of mates. Males who displayed more frequently built larger nests, a measure of parental quality, but larger males did not. When females were paired with males with high display rates, however, the pair had fewer eggs in their nest, even when accounting for female body mass. In a mate choice test using computer‐generated male stimuli that differed only in display behavior, females showed no preferences for displaying males vs. non‐displaying males, or for males with higher display rates vs. lower display rates. In similar tests in which the computer‐generated males differed only in size, females preferred larger males, but also preferred males that differed with respect to body size (negative assortative mating). Males preferred computer‐generated females that performed courtship displays over non‐displaying females, but showed no preferences for female body size. Neither a female's body size nor her display behavior was a significant predictor of her fecundity as estimated by the number of eggs released during spawning. Thus, our results suggest that female B. splendens must balance male parental quality (nest size) with the risk of potentially disruptive or dangerous behavior during spawning, and that females may minimize these risks through negative size‐assortative mating. Female display behavior, while unrelated to fecundity in our study, may attract males because it indicates reproductive readiness or serves a species‐recognition function.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 48%

Mate Choice and Spawning Success in the Fighting FishBetta splendens: the Importance of Body Size, Display Behavior and Nest Size

2006

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“…Previous experiments revealed that males and females of P. taeniatus use body size (an ornamental trait) as well as genetic relatedness (a compatibility criterion) in mate choice, when these criteria were tested independently from each other: as in other cichlids [33][34][35][36][37], both sexes preferred large individuals [32]. Mating with large individuals provides several indirect and direct benefits in biparental cichlids, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A sex-specific trade-off between mating preferences for genetic compatibility and body size in a cichlid fish with mutual mate choice

et al. 2012

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Mating preferences for genetic compatibility strictly depend on the interplay of the genotypes of potential partners and are therein fundamentally different from directional preferences for ornamental secondary sexual traits. Thus, the most compatible partner is on average not the one with most pronounced ornaments and vice versa. Hence, mating preferences may often conflict. Here, we present a solution to this problem while investigating the interplay of mating preferences for relatedness (a compatibility criterion) and large body size (an ornamental or quality trait). In previous experiments, both sexes of Pelvicachromis taeniatus, a cichlid fish with mutual mate choice, showed preferences for kin and large partners when these criteria were tested separately. In the present study, test fish were given a conflicting choice between two potential mating partners differing in relatedness as well as in body size in such a way that preferences for both criteria could not simultaneously be satisfied. We show that a sex-specific trade-off occurs between mating preferences for body size and relatedness. For females, relatedness gained greater importance than body size, whereas the opposite was true for males. We discuss the potential role of the interplay between mating preferences for relatedness and body size for the evolution of inbreeding preference.

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“…Sargent et al 1986;Nelson 1995;Howard et al 1998;Beeching and Hopp 1999;Kvarnemo and Forsgren 2000). In addition, mutual mate choice might favour, for example, both highly ornamented males and large females (Kraak and Bakker 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beeching and Hopp 1999;Bisazza and Pilastro 2000;Suk and Choe 2002). Each test lasted 24 h and was conducted in a tank (730 cm long×47 cm wide tank, water depth 40 cm) divided into five compartments (Fig.…”

Section: Female Preference Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do male tench, Tinca tinca, advertise with morphological ornaments?

et al. 2005

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In contrast to females, tench Tinca tinca (L.) males have large pelvic fins with a thickened and bent second fin ray. Males also produce notable ventral protuberances during breeding, but the function of these male ornaments is not known. Using wild-caught fish, we found that both the size of pelvic fins and ventral protuberance were dependent on body mass/length ratio but not necessarily on condition. Plasma testosterone concentration and relative gonad mass were positively correlated with condition factor. Plasma testosterone concentration was not related to measures of non-specific immune function, but correlated positively with the size of pelvic fins corrected for body length. However, the studied male ornaments were not related to the measures of immune defence or to the load of Diplostomum spp. We did not find evidence for male-male dominance or female preference for large male characteristics within the natural variation in these traits. Thus, our study suggests that also other mechanisms than sexual selection on good genes might contribute to the maintenance of sexual dimorphism in tench.

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Male mate preference and size‐assortative pairing in the convict cichlid

Cited by 35 publications

References 24 publications

Mate Choice and Spawning Success in the Fighting FishBetta splendens: the Importance of Body Size, Display Behavior and Nest Size

Mate Choice and Spawning Success in the Fighting FishBetta splendens: the Importance of Body Size, Display Behavior and Nest Size

A sex-specific trade-off between mating preferences for genetic compatibility and body size in a cichlid fish with mutual mate choice

What do male tench, Tinca tinca, advertise with morphological ornaments?

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