African cichlid's noisy courtship ritual

[Lisachromis]

http://phys.org/news/2012-06-african-ci ... itual.html

Astatotilapia burtoni's predilection for waggling its tail and quivering its body before mating is well documented. But what Maruska, undergraduate researcher Uyhun Ung and Stanford biology Professor Russ Fernald would later write in a paper published last week in PloS ONE was that males also vocalize during courtship. Not only are females responsive to these calls, but their ability to hear them improves with their sexual receptiveness. This additional courtship component may provide crucial signals used for mate choice decisions and help explain how similar-looking cichlid species avoid accidental interbreeding.

[Dan Woodland]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing this Lisa.