Discriminating female mate preferences enhance the variance in reproductive success among males of a population and create a potential for sexual selection, which can account for trait evolution and diversification. Fish color patterns are among the prime targets of mate choice-driven sexual selection. Populations of the cichlid Tropheus from Lake Tanganyika display remarkable geographic color pattern variation, but the role of female choice in their rapid and rich phenotypic diversification is unclear. Males and females establish a pair bond prior to spawning monogamously, but as brood care is strictly maternal, female investment in reproduction is high and the operational sex ratio is male-biased. Therefore, variance in male reproductive success can accrue if individual males succeed repeatedly in securing a mate. To test this prediction in the red colored Tropheus moorii “Chimba”, four pairs of males were presented to a series of females and female mate preferences were inferred from pairwise interactions. There was a significant difference in mating success between the males of each pair (P < 0.001 over all trials), as—with one exception—females shared preferences for the same males. Male courtship activity was strongly correlated with female choice. Our experiment suggests that female choice contributes to the variance in male reproductive success in the tested population.

中文翻译：

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慈鲷鱼 Tropheus moorii 中一致的雌性配偶偏好

区分女性配偶偏好会增加种群中男性繁殖成功率的差异，并创造性选择的潜力，这可以解释性状进化和多样化。鱼的颜色模式是配偶选择驱动的性选择的主要目标之一。坦噶尼喀湖慈鲷种群显示出显着的地理颜色模式变化，但雌性选择在其快速而丰富的表型多样化中的作用尚不清楚。雄性和雌性在一夫一妻制产卵之前建立了配对关系，但由于育雏护理严格是母性的，因此雌性对繁殖的投资很高，并且操作性性别比偏向于雄性。因此，如果个体雄性反复成功地获得配偶，雄性繁殖成功的差异就会增加。为了在红色 Tropheus moorii “Chimba”中测试这一预测，将四对雄性呈现给一系列雌性，并从成对的相互作用中推断出雌性配偶偏好。每对雄性之间的交配成功率存在显着差异（在所有试验中 P < 0.001），因为 - 除了一个例外 - 雌性共享对相同雄性的偏好。男性求爱活动与女性选择密切相关。我们的实验表明，女性的选择会导致被测人群中男性生殖成功的差异。因为——除了一个例外——女性对相同的男性有着共同的偏好。男性求爱活动与女性选择密切相关。我们的实验表明，女性的选择会导致被测人群中男性生殖成功的差异。因为——除了一个例外——女性对相同的男性有着共同的偏好。男性求爱活动与女性选择密切相关。我们的实验表明，女性的选择会导致被测人群中男性生殖成功的差异。