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Differential sperm expenditure by male sailfin mollies, Poecilia latipinna, in a unisexual–bisexual species complex and the influence of spermiation during mating

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Abstract

Selection should favor strategies that reduce costs associated with spermatogenesis. This is especially true when males are sympatric with closely related species, and must avoid heterospecific matings, as in the unisexual–bisexual species complex of mollies. Male sailfin mollies, Poecilia latipinna, are sexually parasitized by Amazon mollies (P. formosa), and produce more sperm in the presence of female sailfin mollies than in the presence of Amazon mollies. We tested the hypothesis that male sailfin mollies differentially expend sperm when mating with either conspecific or heterospecific females. We measured sperm expenditure by determining the amount of sperm males have remaining after mating. Male sailfin mollies had more sperm available after mating with female sailfin mollies than after mating with Amazon mollies. While this result could indicate higher sperm expenditure to Amazon mollies, males mating with female sailfin mollies had more sperm available after mating than their baseline sperm reserves. Spermiation, the last stage of spermatogenesis, could be triggered by physical contact with females, and could increase sperm availability during mating. We examined the relationship between sperm availability and the amount of time that males mated with females. We found that sperm availability increased as mating trial time increased with female sailfin mollies, but not with Amazon mollies. Spermiation in the presence of conspecific female stimuli could reduce physiological costs associated with spermatogenesis while increasing the amount and quality of sperm available for sperm competition. We suggest that future studies examining sperm priming and expenditure should consider the potential for spermiation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Gumm, C. Nice, J. Ott, S. Schwinning and F. Weckerly for comments and suggestions, and H. Brewer, K. Epp, C. Espinedo, R. Gonzalez, E. Holmes, and P. Phillips for assistance with fish maintenance. Fishes were collected in Mexico under Mexican Government Permit: 200302-613-03-147. All experiments comply with current laws of the USA, the Animal Behavior Society Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research and with the Animal Care Guidelines of Texas State University (IACUC approval no. 39CGYe_01). This research was funded by NSF grant: DIB- 0415808 to C.R.G. and A.S.A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Population and Conservation Biology Program, Texas State University–San Marcos, San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA

    Donelle M. Robinson, Andrea S. Aspbury & Caitlin R. Gabor

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Donelle M. Robinson

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  1. Donelle M. Robinson
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  2. Andrea S. Aspbury
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  3. Caitlin R. Gabor
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Correspondence to Andrea S. Aspbury.

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Communicated by C. St. Mary

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Robinson, D.M., Aspbury, A.S. & Gabor, C.R. Differential sperm expenditure by male sailfin mollies, Poecilia latipinna, in a unisexual–bisexual species complex and the influence of spermiation during mating. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62, 705–711 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0495-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0495-y

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