Sperm is a sexual ornament in rose bitterling
Language English Country Great Britain, England Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PubMed
30066434
DOI
10.1111/jeb.13357
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Keywords
- ejaculate, mate choice, pheromone, sexual selection, spermatozoa,
- MeSH
- Major Histocompatibility Complex genetics MeSH
- Cypriniformes genetics physiology MeSH
- Gene Expression Regulation MeSH
- Mating Preference, Animal * MeSH
- Spermatozoa physiology MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Male MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
In many taxa, odour cues mediate mating decisions. A key question is what these odours comprise, where they are produced, and what they signal. Using rose bitterling, fish that spawn in the gills of freshwater mussels, we investigated the role of sperm cues on female oviposition decisions using individuals of known MHC genotype. Male bitterling frequently released sperm prior to female oviposition and females responded with an increased probability of oviposition and released a greater number of eggs, particularly if males had a dissimilar MHC genotype. These mating preferences by females were shown to be adaptive, with MHC dissimilarity of males and females correlated positively with embryo survival. These results support a role for indirect benefits to rose bitterling mate choice, and we propose that sperm acts as a releaser pheromone in bitterling, functioning as a sexual ornament signalling male quality as a mate.
Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology University of Łódź Łódź Poland
Institute of Vertebrate Biology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Brno Czech Republic
School of Psychology and Neuroscience University of St Andrews St Andrews UK
References provided by Crossref.org
Dryad
10.5061/dryad.0rr6pm3
