Meeting Abstract

71.5  Monday, Jan. 6 09:00  Choosing a Caretaker: Do heterospecifics eavesdrop on sexual signals to assess hosts for their offspring? FULLER, A B*; BURROWS, J R; EARLEY, R L; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa atom.fullerene@gmail.com

Heterospecific eavesdroppers are known to use sexual signals to detect potential prey or hosts. We provide experimental evidence that some potentially mutualistic eavesdroppers can also use sexual signals to assess signaler traits. Male longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) care for the offspring of bluenose shiners (Pteronotropis welaka) in an arrangement that may benefit both species. We show that shiners distinguish between hosts based on opercular flap length, a sexual signal used by female sunfish to choose mates and correlated with male success in aggressive interactions. Male sunfish were experimentally modified to have lengthened, average, or shortened opercular flaps. When a small school of shiners was placed in a tank with two sunfish, they preferred to spend more time near the individual with longer opercular flaps. When placed in a tank containing only one sunfish, shiners responded equally to individuals with long and short flaps. Our data indicate that bluenose shiners, like female sunfish, are able to select between male sunfish based on the relative quality of their sexual signals.