Male body size and male‐male competition: Interspecific variation in poeciliid fishes

Bisazza, Angelo; Novarini, Nicola; Pilastro, Andrea

doi:10.1080/11250009609356160

Cited by 19 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Of the seven other winners, four were smaller than their opponent (one S, three NS) and three were of equal length (one S, two NS). This predictive value of size in territorial disputes is consistent with previous studies (Bisazza et al, 1996;Candolin and Voigt, 2001). However, the small size difference sufficient to predict a victory was unexpected.…”

Section: Small Differences In Body Length Predict Social Dominancesupporting

confidence: 92%

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Brains over Brawn: Experience overcomes a size disadvantage in fish social hierarchies

Alcazar

Hilliard

Becker

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Life experiences can alter cognitive abilities and subsequent behavior. Here we asked whether differences in experience could affect social status. In hierarchical animal societies, high-ranking males that typically win aggressive encounters gain territories and hence access to mates. To understand the relative contributions of social experience and physical environment on status, we used a highly territorial African cichlid fish species, Astatotilapia burtoni, that lives in a dynamic lek-like social hierarchy. Astatotilapia burtoni males are either dominant or submissive and can switch status rapidly depending on the local environment. Although dominant males are innately aggressive, we wondered whether they modulated their aggression based on experience. We hypothesized that as males mature they might hone their fighting tactics based on observation of other males fighting. We compared males of different ages and sizes in distinctly different physical environments and subsequently tested their fighting skills. We found that a size difference previously thought negligible (<10% body length) gave a significant advantage to the larger opponent. In contrast, we found no evidence that increasing environmental complexity affected status outcomes. Surprisingly, we found that males only a few days older than their opponents had a significant advantage during territorial disputes so that being older compensated for the disadvantage of being smaller. Moreover, the slightly older winners exploited a consistent fighting strategy, starting with lower levels of aggression on the first day that significantly increased on the second day, a pattern absent in younger winners. These data suggest that experience is an advantage during fights for status, and that social learning provides more relevant experience than the physical complexity of the territory.

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Section: Small Differences In Body Length Predict Social Dominancesupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Bisazza et al, 1996). That is, when two males with a large size difference engage in agonistic interactions, the larger male will almost always win, in some cases without even a fight.…”

Section: Small Differences In Body Length Predict Social Dominancementioning

confidence: 99%

Brains over Brawn: Experience overcomes a size disadvantage in fish social hierarchies

Alcazar

Hilliard

Becker

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Mechanisms of sexual selection in the eastern mosquitofish, especially those acting on body size, have been described previously (Bisazza et al, 1989(Bisazza et al, , 1996Bisazza andMartin, 1991, 1995;Bisazza and Pilastro, 1997). In brief, small males had a strong advantage in coercive copulation because they are less conspicuous when approaching the female from behind and maneuver better when inserting the gonopodium.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Female mate choice in a mating system dominated by male sexual coercion

Bisazza¹,

Vaccari²,

Pilastro³

2001

Behavioral Ecology

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149

109

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In poeciliid fishes, males can gain copulation either by courting females or through sexual coercion. In some species these two tactics coexist. However, in about half of the poeciliids, males do not display, females never cooperate during copulation and all matings are achieved by thrusting the intromittent organ toward the genital pore of apparently unaware females. In one of these species, the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), the probability of insemination is influenced by the time females are previously deprived of males, suggesting that females exert some control over the occurrence of mating even in a system apparently dominated by sexual coercion. In the present study we investigated the tendency of female mosquitofish to approach males in relation to their reproductive status and the time they were previously deprived of males. The tendency to approach males increased in females that were previously deprived of males and in females that had recently given birth. When allowed to choose between males, male-deprived females preferred larger males and normally pigmented over melanistic males. Females preferred groups of three males over a single male, whereas the preference for three males over a group of one male and two females was only marginally significant. Collectively, these results suggest that, even when coercive mating is the only tactic adopted by males, females may be able to influence the outcome of these attempts, and thus exert some control over the paternity of their offspring.

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“…Mayan Cichlid Cichlasoma urophthalmus spread from south to east-central Florida was estimated to be 15 km year −1 [70]; this species has been shown to negatively affect native fishes [71], with a range that includes Tampa Bay and is expanding [56,72]. Depletion of prey in a given area by B. belizanus may increase the likelihood of range expansion [19], as may agonistic intraspecific interactions such as territoriality [73] and avoidance of cannibalism [14].…”

Section: Distribution and Spread Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Initial colonization of new waterbodies can result in high abundance of B. belizanus, with numbers declining thereafter [85]. Relatively low abundance generally appears to be typical of the species, even in the native range, and may reflect a conserved life history trait [37] which could be a function of some of the same factors influencing spread, e.g., territoriality [73], cannibalism [14], and resource depletion [19].…”

Section: Habitat Predictabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution, Spread, and Habitat Predictability of a Small, Invasive, Piscivorous Fish in an Important Estuarine Fish Nursery

Greenwood

2017

Fishes

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Invasive species often cause negative ecological and economic effects. Florida has >20 established invasive fish species but only seven exist in saltwater. The present study examined Belonesox belizanus (Pike Killifish), a Central American euryhaline fish introduced to Tampa Bay (west-central Florida) in the early 1990s, which has quantifiably reduced populations of small-bodied native fishes and may compete with prized sportfish juveniles in estuarine nursery habitat. Long-term monitoring revealed that B. belizanus occurs in estuarine waterbodies along a 31-km stretch of the bay's eastern fringe, with a second, smaller population in two western tributaries. Spread rate was estimated to be 5.5-13 km year −1 , intermediate among invasive poeciliids. A novel implementation of boosted regression tree modeling to assess B. belizanus habitat predictability found greater probability of presence with decreasing water depth and pH, whereas presence tended to be greatest at polyhaline salinity. It is hypothesized that B. belizanus distribution in Tampa Bay is constrained by deep, seawall habitats acting as ecological barriers. Further B. belizanus spread therefore may be most likely to occur by human release (from aquaria or bait buckets) or bird carry-off. Newly restored tidal habitat within the current range probably will be invaded quite quickly by B. belizanus.

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Male body size and male‐male competition: Interspecific variation in poeciliid fishes

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Brains over Brawn: Experience overcomes a size disadvantage in fish social hierarchies

Brains over Brawn: Experience overcomes a size disadvantage in fish social hierarchies

Female mate choice in a mating system dominated by male sexual coercion

Distribution, Spread, and Habitat Predictability of a Small, Invasive, Piscivorous Fish in an Important Estuarine Fish Nursery

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