Cave molly females (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei) like well-fed males

Plath, Martin; Heubel, Katja U.; León, Francisco J. Garcı́a de; Schlupp, Ingo

doi:10.1007/s00265-005-0918-6

Cited by 61 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…In experiments using mesh-wired barriers in dichotomous choice tests under dark conditions, Plath et al (2004Plath et al ( , 2005 found only cave mollies to be able to exercise mate choice, an ability that was also confirmed in the wild (Bierbach et al, 2013a). This was attributed to cave mollies exhibiting evolutionary acquired enhanced lateral line (Parzefall, 2001;Parzefall et al, 2007) as well as chemical sensing of conspecifics (Rüschenbaum and Schlupp, 2013;Jourdan et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Insights into the Social Behavior of Surface and Cave-Dwelling Fish (Poecilia mexicana) in Light and Darkness through the Use of a Biomimetic Robot

et al. 2018

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Biomimetic robots (BRs) are becoming more common in behavioral research and, if they are accepted as conspecifics, allow for new forms of experimental manipulations of social interactions. Nevertheless, it is often not clear which cues emanating from a BR are actually used as communicative signals and how species or populations with different sensory makeups react to specific types of BRs. We herein present results from experiments using two populations of livebearing fishes that differ in their sensory capabilities. In the South of Mexico, surface-dwelling mollies (Poecilia mexicana) successfully invaded caves and adapted to dark conditions. While almost without pigment, these cave mollies possess smaller but still functional eyes. Although previous studies found cave mollies to show reduced shoaling preferences with conspecifics in light compared to surface mollies, it is assumed that they possess specialized adaptations to maintain some kind of sociality also in their dark habitats. By testing surface-and cave-dwelling mollies with RoboFish, a BR made for use in laboratory experiments with guppies and sticklebacks, we asked to what extent visual and non-visual cues play a role in their social behavior. Both cave-and surface-dwelling mollies followed the BR as well as a live companion when tested in light. However, when tested in darkness, only surface-dwelling fish were attracted by a live conspecific, whereas cave-dwelling fish were not. Neither cave-nor surface-dwelling mollies were attracted to RoboFish in darkness. This is the first study to use BRs for the investigation of social behavior in mollies and to compare responses to BRs both in light and darkness. As our RoboFish is accepted as conspecific by both used populations of the Atlantic molly only under light conditions but not in darkness, we argue that our replica is providing mostly visual cues.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Insights into the Social Behavior of Surface and Cave-Dwelling Fish (Poecilia mexicana) in Light and Darkness through the Use of a Biomimetic Robot

et al. 2018

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“…In previous experiments, we demonstrated that cave molly males in nature have the same relative distension of their abdomen as males from a laboratory stock after 1 week of starvation (Plath et al 2005). This pointed towards a role for energy limitation in this system, and thus we compared the condition factor (CF) between P. mexicana (n=610) from cave chambers V, XI and XIII and mollies from two adjacent surface habitats (the sulphidic El Azufre and a nearby clear-water creek, Arroyo Cristal).…”

Section: Population Comparison Of Condition Factorsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Survival in an extreme habitat: the roles of behaviour and energy limitation

Plath

Tobler

Riesch

et al. 2007

Naturwissenschaften

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Extreme habitats challenge animals with highly adverse conditions, like extreme temperatures or toxic substances. In this paper, we report of a fish (Poecilia mexicana) inhabiting a limestone cave in Mexico. Several springs inside the cave are rich in toxic H 2 S. We demonstrate that a behavioural adaptation, aquatic surface respiration (ASR), allows for the survival of P. mexicana in this extreme, sulphidic habitat. Without the possibility to perform ASR, the survival rate of P. mexicana was low even at comparatively low H 2 S concentrations. Furthermore, we show that food limitation affects the survival of P. mexicana pointing to energetically costly physiological adaptations to detoxify H 2 S.

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“…We caught mollies of two populations from adjacent but vastly different habitats in Tabasco, southern Mexico, near the village Tapijulapa (see Plath et al (2005a)). The surface form inhabits a mostly clear, seasonally turbid swift river, the Río Oxolotan.…”

Section: Study Organism and Fish Maintenancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Females of the cave form express at least two mating preferences even in darkness (preference for large male body size (Plath et al 2003a(Plath et al , 2004, preference for well-nourished males (Plath et al 2005a)). Mating preferences based on nonvisual cues have not been found in light-reared surface-dwelling females from the nearby Rio Oxolotan, which showed a mating preference for large males only when visual cues from males could be assessed (Plath et al 2003a(Plath et al , 2004 and showed no preference at all relative to male nutritional state (Plath et al 2005a). A sensory shift seems to enable female mate choice in the cave form, whereby formerly visually mediated mating preferences are now mediated by nonvisual cues (e.g., water displacement, chemical or potentially acoustical cues).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choosy males from the underground: male mating preferences in surface- and cave-dwelling Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana)

Plath

Seggel

Burmeister

et al. 2006

Naturwissenschaften

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Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana) inhabit a variety of surface habitats, but they also occur in a sulfur cave in southern Mexico. We examined male mate choice relative to female body size in the cave population and in the most closely related surface-dwelling population from a nearby river. Males from both populations were either light- or dark-reared and could choose between two differently sized females either on the basis of visual cues in light or on the basis of solely nonvisual cues in darkness. Sexual preferences were estimated from the degree of association. Cave molly males always showed a preference for the larger female, both in light and in darkness. Among the surface males, only light-reared males showed a preference in the visual cues test, but not in darkness. In a control experiment, we demonstrated that male association preferences directly translate into actual mating preferences. Apparently, using visual cues for mate choice is the ancestral state in this system, and using nonvisual cues has evolved as a novel trait in the cave population. We discuss the evolution of nonvisual male mate choice in the context of changed environmental conditions, namely the absence of light, hypoxia, and toxic hydrogen sulfide in the cave.

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Cave molly females (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei) like well-fed males

Cited by 61 publications

References 45 publications

Insights into the Social Behavior of Surface and Cave-Dwelling Fish (Poecilia mexicana) in Light and Darkness through the Use of a Biomimetic Robot

Insights into the Social Behavior of Surface and Cave-Dwelling Fish (Poecilia mexicana) in Light and Darkness through the Use of a Biomimetic Robot

Survival in an extreme habitat: the roles of behaviour and energy limitation

Choosy males from the underground: male mating preferences in surface- and cave-dwelling Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana)

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