Female vibration discourages male courtship behaviour in the Amarillo fish (Girardinichthys multiradiatus)

•Female vibration is mediated by the lateral line system.•The less a female vibrates the more a male courts her.•Female vibration discourages males from displaying courtship behaviour. Amarillo fish females (Girardinichthys multiradiatus) vibrate when conspecific males approach them; the reason behi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural processes 2013-11, Vol.100, p.163-168
Main Authors: Martínez Medina, Lourdes, Macías Garcia, Constantino, Flores Urbina, Amira, Manjarrez, Javier, Moyaho, Alejandro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aggression
Agnatha. Pisces
Animal and plant ecology
Animal ethology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Cobalt
Courtship
Cyprinodontiformes - physiology
eyes
Female
females
fish
Fresh water ecosystems
Freshwater fish
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Girardinichthys
Girardinichthys multiradiatus
Goodeinae
Lateral line organs
lateral line system
Male
males
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Sexual Behavior, Animal - physiology
Synecology
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
Vibration
Viviparous fish
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Female vibration is mediated by the lateral line system.•The less a female vibrates the more a male courts her.•Female vibration discourages males from displaying courtship behaviour. Amarillo fish females (Girardinichthys multiradiatus) vibrate when conspecific males approach them; the reason behind this behaviour is unclear. Hypotheses are that females vibrate either to avoid aggression from males or to court them. We prevented females from vibrating by temporarily blocking their lateral line organs and eyes, on the assumption that they rely on these senses to detect approaching males. Females with the lateral line organs obstructed vibrated less frequently than females with the lateral line intact, indicating that the mechanosensory lateral line system is necessary for perceiving approaching males. Males displayed more courtship behaviour to sighted females with the lateral line organs obstructed than to sighted females with the lateral line intact. A general tendency indicated that the less the females vibrated the more the males courted them. These findings indicate that female vibration discourages male courtship behaviour.
ISSN:0376-6357
1872-8308
DOI:10.1016/j.beproc.2013.09.007