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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on June 22, 2006
Behavioral Ecology 2006 17(5):779-783; doi:10.1093/beheco/arl016
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Mating preference of female zebrafish, Danio rerio, in relation to male dominance

Rowena Spence and Carl Smith

Department of Biology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK

Address correspondence to R. Spence. E-mail: rs153{at}le.ac.uk.

Mating success tends to be skewed toward dominant males, though female mate preferences may not always correlate with male dominance. In this study, we investigated the mating preferences of female zebrafish, Danio rerio, in the absence of male–male competition. We paired females sequentially with males of known dominance rank, using a nested, repeated measures design, with egg production as a measure of female mate preference. We predicted that females would spawn more frequently and produce larger clutches when paired with males of higher dominance rank. We found significant differences among females in the size of clutches produced and among males in the size of clutches received, but these differences were independent of male dominance rank. Male body size was not related to either dominance rank or clutch size received. These results indicate that females vary clutch size in relation to the males with which they are paired but that they do not favor dominant males. Thus, male competition may normally override female mate preference in zebrafish.

Key words: assortative mating, mate choice, oviposition, pheromone, territoriality.


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