Male guppies change courtship behaviour in response to their own quality relative to that of a rival male. (August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yoshikawa, Takashi; Ohkubo, Yusaku; Karino, Kenji; Hasegawa, Eisuke
• Is Part Of: Animal behaviour. Volume 118(2016)
• Page Start: 33
• Page End: 37
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Subjects: female preference -- guppy -- male preference -- mate choice -- sexual selection; Animal behavior -- Periodicals; 591.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.05.022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-3472

Abstract

Abstract : Compared with female mate choice, male mate choice has been an important but minor topic in the past two decades. In the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, a male approaching a female abandons his courtship when a rival male appears next to the focal female; however, the effect of the relative quality of the males on this behavioural change is unknown. We show here that male guppies abandon their approach to a female only when the rival male is phenotypically superior. Both natural and artificially induced brightly coloured males continued to approach a female even when the rival male was brightly coloured, but both natural and induced dull-coloured males abandoned their approach to a female when the rival was brightly coloured. Males decided their behaviours on the basis of their own appearance, not on their genotypes, because artificially induced brightly and dull-coloured brothers differed in their behaviour. Our results show that male mate choice behaviour is finely tuned to maximize the probability of acceptance by the approached female. Highlights: Male guppies change courtship in response to their relative appearance to a rival. Superior male guppies do not stop courtship irrespective of type of rival. Inferior male guppies abandon courtship when a rival is phenotypically superior. Inferior males change partner to less preferred female in presence of a rival. Artificially differentiated brothers showed the same behavioural patterns.