Ultraviolet dermal reflexion and mate choice in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Abstract Some fish, including the guppy, have the ability to perceive ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. Female guppies prefer to associate with males that are viewed under light conditions that include UV-A, in preference to conditions lacking these wavelengths. We used reflexion spectrophotometry to show that male guppies reflect UV light from both their structural (purple, green and white) and pigment (orange) colour patches and that males differ in the levels of UV light reflected. Varying components of UV may affect both the brightness and hue of particular colour patches. This may produce nonspectral colours that are visible to the guppy but that are outside human perception. We used video analysis to quantify male reflexion in the UV and visible wavebands. Male guppies with high and low UV reflexion, but similar human-visible coloration and area of coloration, were paired for use in mate choice experiments. Female guppies shown pairs of males differing in their levels of UV reflexion had no preference for either high or low UV reflexion. This suggests that UV reflexion does not provide particularly significant information relating to male quality or influence female preference in this population of guppies. Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

[1]  J. L. Gould,et al.  Tail size and female choice in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) , 1985, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[2]  A. Kodric‐Brown,et al.  Ultraviolet reflectance patterns of male guppies enhance their attractiveness to females , 2002, Animal Behaviour.

[3]  J. Endler.  NATURAL SELECTION ON COLOR PATTERNS IN POECILIA RETICULATA , 1980, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[4]  J. Marshall.  The Visual Ecology of Reef Fish Colours , 2000 .

[5]  J. Endler.  Predation, light intensity and courtship behaviour in Poecilia reticulata (Pisces: Poeciliidae) , 1987, Animal Behaviour.

[6]  J. Lythgoe,et al.  Visual pigment polymorphism in the guppy poecilia reticulata , 1987, Vision Research.

[7]  J. Endler.  Variation in the appearance of guppy color patterns to guppies and their predators under different visual conditions , 1991, Vision Research.

[8]  L. Dill,et al.  Predation on females or males: who pays for bright male traits? , 1995, Animal Behaviour.

[9]  L. Dill,et al.  Male mating strategies under predation risk: do females call the shots? , 1999 .

[10]  J. Endler.  A Predator’s View of Animal Color Patterns , 1978 .

[11]  N. Liley,et al.  A sexual pheromone in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata (Peters) , 1979 .

[12]  A. Houde.  The effects of female choice and male-male competition on the mating success of male guppies , 1988, Animal Behaviour.

[13]  A. Kodric‐Brown.  Female preference and sexual selection for male coloration in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) , 1985, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[14]  C. Hawryshyn,et al.  Behavioural studies of fish vision: an analysis of visual capabilities , 1990 .

[15]  Astrid Kodric-Brown,et al.  Female choice of multiple male criteria in guppies: interacting effects of dominance, coloration and courtship , 1993, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[16]  R. Brooks,et al.  Female choice in a feral guppy population: are there multiple cues? , 1995, Animal Behaviour.

[17]  R. Douglas,et al.  The Visual System of Fish , 1990 .

[18]  P. Nicoletto.  Female sexual response to condition-dependent ornaments in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata , 1993, Animal Behaviour.

[19]  R. Douglas,et al.  Spectral transmission and short-wave absorbing pigments in the fish lens—I. Phylogenetic distribution and identity , 1993, Vision Research.

[20]  I. Cuthill,et al.  Ultraviolet plumage colors predict mate preferences in starlings. , 1997, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  J W Seaman,et al.  Caveat emptor: rank transform methods and interaction. , 1994, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[22]  A. Kodric‐Brown.  Dietary carotenoids and male mating success in the guppy: an environmental component to female choice , 1989, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[23]  J. Endler.  Natural and sexual selection on color patterns in poeciliid fishes , 1983, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[24]  K. Schiedt.  New Aspects of Carotenoid Metabolism in Animals , 1989 .

[25]  A. Houde,et al.  Effect of parasitic infection on male color pattern and female choice in guppies , 1992 .

[26]  R. Iman,et al.  Rank Transformations as a Bridge between Parametric and Nonparametric Statistics , 1981 .

[27]  I. Cuthill,et al.  Ultraviolet vision and mate choice in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) , 2002 .

[28]  J. Witmer,et al.  Statistics for the Life Sciences , 1990 .

[29]  T. Cronin,et al.  The UV visual world of fishes: a review , 1999 .

[30]  T. Amundsen,et al.  Animal signals : signalling and signal design in animal communication , 2000 .

[31]  A. Houde.  MATE CHOICE BASED UPON NATURALLY OCCURRING COLOR‐PATTERN VARIATION IN A GUPPY POPULATION , 1987, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[32]  A. Houde.  Sex, Color, and Mate Choice in Guppies , 1998 .