Reduction of a visually mediated association preference in the Cave molly ( Michael Tobler(1,2), Heike Burmeister(3), Ingo Schlup (2,3), Martin Plath Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei)

2006 Several studies have reported on the persistence of visually mediated social preferences, such as preferences of females to associate with certain types of males, in an eyed cave fish, the Cave molly (Poecilia mexicana). However, so far most studies have examined preferences which are apparently currently under selection, i.e., the preferences are expressed also in darkness. In this paper we examined female preferences for (1) conspecific females and (2) males without a parasite-induced color change (black spot disease, BSD). In both cases, selection on the persistence of the preference is not apparent. As predicted, surface-dwelling females preferred conspecific over heterospecific females, but this preference was not found in the Cave molly. However, we found no evidence for female preferences relative to BSD-infection of males. We discuss that BSD-resistance probably has a low indicator value, so that this trait appears to be of minor importance for female mate choice even in surface-dwelling mollies.

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