Amorim M Clara P, Conti Carlotta, Sousa-Santos Carla, Novais Bruno, Gouveia Maria D, Vicente Joana R, Modesto Teresa, Gonçalves Amparo, Fonseca Paulo J
MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal.
Centro de Ciências do Mar, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-810 Faro, Portugal.
Physiol Behav. 2016 Mar 1;155:17-24. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.11.033. Epub 2015 Nov 30.
Acoustic signals are sexual ornaments with an established role on mate choice in several taxa, but not in fish. Recent studies have suggested that fish vocal activity may signal male quality and influence male's reproductive success but experimental evidence is lacking. Here we made two experiments to test the hypothesis that vocal activity is essential for male breeding success in a highly vocal fish, the Lusitanian toadfish. We first compared the reproduction success between muted and vocal males. In a second experiment we related male reproduction success with acoustic activity and male quality, including biometric, condition and physiological features. As a proxy for reproductive success we tallied both total number and number of sired eggs, which were correlated. Muting experiments showed that successful mating was dependent on vocalizing. In addition, the number of eggs was positively associated with the male's maximum calling rate. In the second experiment male's reproductive success was positively associated with male condition and negatively related with circulating androgen levels and relative gonad mass, but was not associated with vocal activity. Differences in results may be related with nest design which could have influenced mate choice costs and intra-sexual competition. In the muting experiment nests had a small opening that restrained the large nest-holder but allowed smaller fish, such as females, to pass while in the second experiment fish could move freely. These experiments suggest that a combination of factors, including vocal activity, influence reproductive success in this highly vocal species.
声学信号是一种性装饰，在多个分类群的配偶选择中具有既定作用，但在鱼类中并非如此。最近的研究表明，鱼类的发声活动可能标志着雄性的品质并影响雄性的繁殖成功率，但缺乏实验证据。在此，我们进行了两项实验，以检验发声活动对于一种高度发声的鱼类——葡萄牙海蟾蜍的雄性繁殖成功至关重要这一假设。我们首先比较了静音雄性和发声雄性之间的繁殖成功率。在第二项实验中，我们将雄性繁殖成功率与声学活动及雄性品质联系起来，包括生物特征、身体状况和生理特征。作为繁殖成功的指标，我们统计了受精卵的总数和数量，二者具有相关性。静音实验表明，成功交配依赖于发声。此外，卵的数量与雄性的最大鸣叫率呈正相关。在第二项实验中，雄性的繁殖成功率与雄性身体状况呈正相关，与循环雄激素水平及相对性腺质量呈负相关，但与发声活动无关。结果的差异可能与巢穴设计有关，巢穴设计可能影响了配偶选择成本和种内竞争。在静音实验中，巢穴有一个小开口，限制了大型巢穴占据者，但允许较小的鱼（如雌性）通过，而在第二项实验中，鱼可以自由移动。这些实验表明，包括发声活动在内的多种因素共同影响了这种高度发声物种的繁殖成功率。
