hulkamaniac
Aquarium Advice Freak
Don't know if this belongs here or possibly in the breeding forum so feel free to move it as needed. I just saw this article and thought it was interesting.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070214/sc_nm/science_size_dc_1
Tue Feb 13, 7:08 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Size matters in the science of sexual attraction -- especially if you are a fish.
Scientists at the Universities of Exeter and Glasgow have found that female green swordtail fish mature more rapidly if they spot a male with a big tail.
Likewise young males retard their sexual development for several months if they spot a better-endowed male, waiting for there to be less competition in the mating game.
"This is the first evidence that a species adjusts its rate of sexual maturation in response to visual clues," Craig Walling of Exeter University's school of biosciences said.
"While our study focused on green swordtail fish, it seems unlikely that this attribute is limited to this one species," he added.
Green swordtail fish, a native of North and Central America, are named after the striking growth of the male's tail-fin which makes them look bigger and therefore more attractive to females which do not develop the sword-shaped tail fin.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070214/sc_nm/science_size_dc_1
Tue Feb 13, 7:08 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Size matters in the science of sexual attraction -- especially if you are a fish.
Scientists at the Universities of Exeter and Glasgow have found that female green swordtail fish mature more rapidly if they spot a male with a big tail.
Likewise young males retard their sexual development for several months if they spot a better-endowed male, waiting for there to be less competition in the mating game.
"This is the first evidence that a species adjusts its rate of sexual maturation in response to visual clues," Craig Walling of Exeter University's school of biosciences said.
"While our study focused on green swordtail fish, it seems unlikely that this attribute is limited to this one species," he added.
Green swordtail fish, a native of North and Central America, are named after the striking growth of the male's tail-fin which makes them look bigger and therefore more attractive to females which do not develop the sword-shaped tail fin.
hmmm...definitely sounds interesting and probably true. I know I've had male mollies have retarded growth and my dominant male is HUGE....and has 3 females in his 'harem' and fights off the other ones and the females always hang around him because he protects them (even if I have no other fish beating on them)... Mollies are very similar to swordtails so who knows o-o
