Meeting Abstract

P1.7  Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30  Breeding convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia) display differential aggression based on conspecific intruder coloration ANDERSON, C.*; JONES, R.; MOSCICKI, M.; CLOTFELTER, E.; EARLEY, R.L.; Univ. of Alabama; Univ. of Alabama; Univ. of Alberta; Amherst College; Univ. of Alabama ctanderson@crimson.ua.edu

Convict cichlid (Amatitlania siquia) females exhibit orange carotenoid-based ventral coloration that males lack. The signaling potential of female coloration has yet to be fully established and few field studies have addressed this issue. In this study, three-dimensional female convict cichlid models were presented to naturally occurring breeding pairs in Lake Xiloa, Nicaragua. We predicted that aggressive responses to the models would increase with increasing model size and with increasing size of the ventral orange patch. Model treatments consisted of three sizes and three color classes (two patch sizes and no color). In support of our predictions, breeding pairs exhibited significantly higher aggression toward larger models and toward models that had orange coloration. However, within the color patch treatments, only small patches elicited significantly more aggression than models lacking color.