Female preference in the context of male–male interactions in Maylandia zebra of Lake Malawi

Abstract

The mbuna cichlids of Lake Malawi are a diverse, monophyletic, and recently derived clade. Sexual selection is thought to have accelerated their rapid diversification, though the mechanism by which this has occurred remains unknown. In this study, we examine the effect that male-male interactions have on female preference. We first used a short interaction experiment as a proxy for male dominance. We then measured female preference for (1) a single, isolated male; (2) a group of three, highly ranked males, relative to a group of lower ranked males; and (3) a group of three, mixed-ranked males against a similar group of mixed-rank males. We found that male dominance was highly correlated with male standard length. Female preference for male standard length and for dominance rank was significant in both isolated and group interactions. However, females only showed preference for groups of interacting males when males were segregated by dominance rank, not when groups were composed of both dominant and subordinate males. The results suggest that male-male contests influence female mating decisions. By investigating the rules that dictate the outcomes of such interactions we can elucidate the role that behavior plays in the diversification of this species-rich lineage.

Assessment of fighting ability in the vocal cichlid Metriaclima zebra in face of incongruent audiovisual information

“…If M. zebra males use spectral information and/ or sound amplitude to assess an opponent's size, they are expected to escalate fights less with an opponent producing lower frequency and/or louder sounds characteristic of larger fish in comparison with males perceived as smaller. Note that agonistic interactions occurred often between males of different sizes in stock tanks in our facilities, so aggression is expected to occur even when there are perceived asymmetries in the opponent's size, with differences in body size determining aggression level and fight outcome (Mellor et al, 2012). In addition, as fish were matched in size, but the delivered acoustic signals provided mismatched sizeinformation, the experiments aimed to test the prevalence of the acoustic versus the visual sensory channels in fish fights.…”

“…The African cichlid Metriaclima zebra (Boulenger 1899) is a vocal territorial fish for which body size is a critical determinant of fight outcome (Simões et al, 2008;Mellor et al, 2012). Males of this species use visual and acoustic cues (Simões et al, 2008;Bertucci et al, 2012), and likely chemical and vibrational (lateral line) cues, in male-male fighting ability assessment and in a reproductive context (Butler and Maruska, 2015;Escobar-Camacho and Carleton, 2015;Keller-Costa et al, 2016).…”

Appraisal of unimodal cues during agonistic interactions inMaylandia zebra

“…Several communication channels are known to be widely used by fish. Many authors have proposed that visual ( Rosenthal & Ryan, 2000 ; Dijkstra et al, 2010 ; Chen & Fernald, 2011 ; Mellor et al, 2012 ), acoustic ( Amorim et al, 2008 ; Bertucci et al, 2010 ; Maruska, Ung & Fernald, 2012 ; Longrie et al, 2013 ) and chemical cues ( Plenderleith et al, 2005 ; Martinovic-Weigelt et al, 2012 ; Keller-Costa, Canário & Hubbard, 2015 ) are highly relevant for intraspecific communication. Additional studies revealed the importance of the lateral line system during social encounters ( Butler & Maruska, 2015 ).…”

Peer Review #1 of "Appraisal of unimodal cues during agonistic interactions in Maylandia zebra (v0.1)"

“…Several communication channels are known to be widely used by fish. Many authors have proposed that visual (Rosenthal & Ryan, 2000;Dijkstra et al, 2010;Chen & Fernald, 2011;Mellor et al, 2012), acoustic (Amorim et al, 2008;Bertucci et al, 2010;Maruska, Ung & Fernald, 2012;Longrie et al, 2013) and chemical cues (Plenderleith et al, 2005;Martinovic-Weigelt et al, 2012;Keller-Costa, Canário & Hubbard, 2015) are highly relevant for intraspecific communication. Additional studies revealed the importance of the lateral line system during social encounters (Butler & Maruska, 2015).…”