Parasites, male-male competition and female mate choice in the sand goby

I. Barber*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Male sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus dominance in competition over nest sites was associated with higher body condition but not with the intensity of infection with any individual parasite of six different species, nor with an overall index combining relative levels of infection by all parasites. Body condition was not related to the intensity of infection with any individual parasite nor with the index of total relative parasite load. In trials in which females spawned, they showed a tendency to choose dominant over subordinate males as mates, but did not consistently choose less parasitized males. Variation in the relative size of the dorsal fins of males was detected, and this related to numbers of the ectoparasitic monogenean Gyrodactylus sp., suggesting that at least some infections have phenotypic effects that could allow females to detect and avoid the most heavily infected males.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)185-198
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Fish Biology
Volume61
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Jul 2002

Keywords

  • Female choice
  • Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis
  • Male-male competition
  • Mate choice
  • Ornamentation

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