Differences in sounds made by courting males of three closely related Lake Malawi cichlid species

Courtship sounds made by three sympatric cichlid species, Pseudotropheus zebra, P. callainos and an undescribed species known as P. ‘zebra gold’ were recorded and compared to investigate the potential role of acoustic signals in mate choice. Sounds were emitted during ‘quiver’ and ‘circle’ component...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of fish biology 2004-11, Vol.65 (5), p.1358-1371
Main Authors: Amorim, M. C. P., Knight, M. E., Stratoudakis, Y., Turner, G. F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agnatha. Pisces
bioacoustics
Biological and medical sciences
Cichlidae
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
mate choice
Pseudotropheus
Pseudotropheus zebra
reproductive isolation
sound production
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
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Summary:Courtship sounds made by three sympatric cichlid species, Pseudotropheus zebra, P. callainos and an undescribed species known as P. ‘zebra gold’ were recorded and compared to investigate the potential role of acoustic signals in mate choice. Sounds were emitted during ‘quiver’ and ‘circle’ components of the male courtship display and consisted of rapidly repeated pulse units. Some sound variables differed significantly among species with P. callainos generally being separated from the other two species. This species produced sounds with higher peak frequency (for a given length) and lower number of pulses than P. ‘zebra gold’ and higher pulse durations than P. zebra. In addition, standard length was inversely related to peak frequency in both P. ‘zebra gold’ and P. callainos(this relation was not tested in P. zebra due to the small sample size). These differences might indicate different regimes of intraspecific sexual selection among the three species.
ISSN:0022-1112
1095-8649
DOI:10.1111/j.0022-1112.2004.00535.x