Male mate choice in corkwing wrasse (Crenilabrus melops L.)

Male mate choice has been demonstrated in a number of fish species, a nd is mostly related to male preferences for variable female traits s uch as fecundity, secondary sexual characters or female-female intera ctions. Corkwing wrasse (Crenilabrus melops L.) is a temperate fish s pecies, in which males show three reproduction strategies; territoria l males (terminal), sneakers and satellites. The terminal males defen d a nest in which several females are allowed to spawn during a two t o three day period only. Thus, there may exist a potential for male m ate choice, since the individual spawning period is short and since t he number of nest defending males can be less than the number of fecu nd females. This poster reports on results concerning the relationshi p between female size/age and absolute/relative fecundity. Furthermor e, in order to investigate if the reported increase in fecundity with female size was a significant factor for male mate choice, terminal males were exposed to fecund females of varying size in classical mat e choice experiments.