Meeting Abstract

P2.34  Thursday, Jan. 5  Dyadic interactions in the mixed-mating strategies of the mangrove rivulus, Kryptolebias marmoratus. II. The role of male-male parings. LUKE, Kelly/ N.*; BECHLER, David/L.; South Georgia College, Douglas, GA; Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA kelly.luke@sgc.edu

Male-male dyads were examined in Kryptolebias marmoratus to determine the possible role such dyads might play in territoriality and dominance. However, a dichotomy in the behaviors displayed by dyads in which one male possessed an ocellus required that the male-male dyads be divided into subcategories to better understand the complexity of behaviors. When neither male possessed a caudal ocellus, significant levels of aggression occurred between the males with bouts resembling those of hermaphrodite-hermaphrodite dyads. Such behaviors suggest that males without ocelli are territorial and/or develop hierarchies of dominance in the wild. The presence of a caudal ocellus on one male correlated with the other male responding as if the male with the ocellus was a hermaphrodite and as such a potential mate. In such dyads, aggressive, submissive and reproductive behaviors were found, but no distinct pattern of exclusively reproductive or aggressive acts were observed as seen in hermaphrodite-male and hermaphrodite-hermaphrodite dyads respectively. It is not known whether the ocellus was the primary signal initiating reproductive behaviors or some other stimulus such as pheromones or the posture of the male with the ocellus. This suggests that males with an ocellus are in a transitional stage transforming from hermaphrodites to secondary males and do not provide the male without the ocellus a distinct set of stimuli to allow discrimination of its sexual state.