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The effects of mating system on male mate choice in a coral reef fish

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Summary

We show how mate limitation appears to be critical in determining whether or not males exercise mate choice among available females. Thalassoma bifasciatum is a Caribbean reef fish with two distinct mating patterns: group-spawning and pair-spawning. In both mating systems, female fecundity is variable and size dependent, and female availability is high. However, sperm competition among group-spawning males apparently limits the number of effective matings in which a male may engage, whereas territorial pair-spawning males have little or no such limitation. Group-spawning males should be discriminating in their choice of mates and our data confirm this: there is strong evidence for assortative mating in group-spawns, with more large males joining in mating groups around large females. In contrast, pair-spawning males show no indication of mate preferences, and spawn with all females who arrive at their territories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Science Institute, University of California, 93106, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    E. P. van den Berghe & R. R. Warner

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  1. E. P. van den Berghe
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  2. R. R. Warner
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van den Berghe, E.P., Warner, R.R. The effects of mating system on male mate choice in a coral reef fish. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 24, 409–415 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293269

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293269

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