This
article talks about different ways in which bizarre sex strategies occur within
different types of species. It’s typical that a female would carry the eggs and
the male species would donate the sperm, but according to recent study, the
exact opposite is happening. Scientists have found that in certain species, the
male is caring for the offspring during and after reproduction.
In
male pipefish, the males actually pick their mates based on size. The larger
the female, the more likely he’ll want to mate with her. This occurs because the male pipefish is looking to create stronger offspring and the size of the female fish could potentially mean more successful fertilization and reproduction. Once he finds the
right sized mate, the female pipefish will transfer her eggs into a special
pouch in the male pipefish and wait for fertilization and reproduction to
occur.
To
prove that males prefer a larger mate, scientists mated a male pipefish with
both a small and large female pipefish. The results were uncanny. Not only did
the male fish carry more eggs when mating with a large female, but also the
care taken for those offspring was much greater. The survival rate of the
unborn offspring from the large female pipefish was higher than those that came
from the small female pipefish. The evidence shows that males favor the eggs of
the larger female and pay better attention to their care during fertilization
and maturation.
Scientists
believe that these male pipefish base their reproduction off of their own chance of survival. It’s believed that the male pipefish have a higher chance of
nourishment and survival from a larger brood of fish versus a small brood. When
the fish carry the small female’s eggs, they are spending their resources on making
them stronger instead of spending the resources on themselves. Interesting,
huh?
Kimberly
Ty (3)
Edited my blog (2nd paragraph)
Edited my blog (2nd paragraph)
That is interesting. A larger female would mean that she has survived longer and has been able to provide food for herself. So the male would want his lineage/genes to be carried on by a strong gene female.
ReplyDeleteSunni-Lynn Farias (1)
Thanks for the input! I will include this in my post.
DeleteKimberly Ty (3)
It's interesting how the male gets the mate choice in this species. Usually the females have the choice because it costs more energy to produce eggs.
ReplyDeleteCool article.
There are certain male frogs that fertilize eggs with the female, and then carry around the eggs wrapped around their hind legs or elsewhere in their body! Pretty cool to see that another species puts in some sort of parental investment like this as well!
ReplyDeleteCynthia Bui (1)
Why do you think this mating strategy of the males carrying the eggs for the females might have evolved in the first place? I am having trouble seeing what initial advantage it might have had over the larger females simply caring for the eggs and offspring themselves. Do you know how many females a typical male mates with over the course of his lifecycle? Having to care for offspring would seem to limit his ability to find more mates, and I'm assuming that males generally reproduce more than females. As a result, this would seem to limit the reproductive capability of the species.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sean McDougall (2)
This is great information supporting the theory that mate selection is oftentimes based on the expectation that one is healthy or strong enough to support babies. Seahorses, who are closely related to pipefish, also chose mates based on size and health to ensure successful passing of their genes.
ReplyDeleteAshley Sterpka (1)