| | Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! | |
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KMX Admin
Posts : 16094 Location : Mansfield, TX Favorite Fish: : African Cichlids of all kinds.
| Subject: Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! 12/28/2010, 10:05 am | |
| Copyright Ad Konings Why do male cichlids have to be small to be sneaky? This is the question that Japanese scientists Kazutaka Ota, Masanori Kohda and Tetsu Sato sought to answer in their study on the shell-dwelling cichlid Lamprologus callipterus published in the most recent issue of the journal Naturwissenschaften. Male L. callipterus come in two forms: the 'regular' version (referred to as bourgeois males by scientists) that is several times larger than the female and defends a harem consisting of several females; and the parasitic version, which matures rapidly, remains small for life (they are smaller than females) and employ a sneaking tactic in mating with females. Because the dwarf, parasitic males mate by wriggling past the female into her shell, and staying there to release sperm close to her when she spawns, the authors hypothesise that the parasitic males are small because of the need to pass through the inner shell space. The authors test their hypothesis by analysing the natural variation found in female size and shell size, taking into account the fact that the size of the inner shell space is dictated by the size of the shells the females choose. The authors found that female size increased faster than shell size. This meant that larger females utilise relatively smaller shells so that dwarf males entering the shells have to be smaller relative to females in the populations where larger shells are available. Given that shell size availability is limited in each population, their results suggest that dwarf males are depressed in their growth by the available size of the inner shell spaces Published: Dr Heok Hee Ng | |
| | | CSnyder00 Moderator
Posts : 1648 Location : Pittsburgh, PA Favorite Fish: : Luwino Reef Zebra Chilumba, Ocellatus, Any bright-colored freshwater cichlid
| Subject: Re: Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! 12/28/2010, 4:54 pm | |
| Dang. Very nice explanation. I knew there were two male sizes, but this explains it a bit more. | |
| | | KMX Admin
Posts : 16094 Location : Mansfield, TX Favorite Fish: : African Cichlids of all kinds.
| Subject: Re: Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! 12/28/2010, 10:12 pm | |
| I thought this was cool to...A must post | |
| | | istrober Moderator
Posts : 2643 Location : Lehigh Acres, Fl Favorite Fish: : Africans, Peacocks, Catfish.. pertty much everything that has fins and tail...
| Subject: Re: Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! 12/29/2010, 7:09 am | |
| Good find Kory... very interesting! | |
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| Subject: Re: Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! | |
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| | | | Male Shell Dwellers are SNEAKY! | |
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