Browsing by Author "Turner, George F."
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- African cichlid Pseudotropheus spp. males moan to females during foreplayPublication . Simões, José Miguel; Fonseca, Paulo Jorge; Turner, George F.; Amorim, Maria Clara PessoaThis study describes a new courtship sound (moan) produced by Pseudotropheus spp. males, not previously reported for cichlids. Moans are short tonal sounds often showing frequency modulation. This sound type is of very low amplitude and is produced when males swim in close proximity to a female, usually before performing more exuberant behavioural exhibitions, such as darting, quivering the body and growling.
- Courtship and agonistic sounds by the cichlid fish Pseudotropheus zebraPublication . Simões, José Miguel; Duarte, Inês G.; Fonseca, Paulo Jorge; Turner, George F.; Amorim, Maria Clara PessoaCourtship and agonistic interactions in an African cichlid species present a richer diversity of acoustic stimuli than previously reported. Male cichlids, including those from the genus Pseudotropheus (P.), produce low frequency short pulsed sounds during courtship. Sounds emitted by P. zebra males in the early stages of courtship during quiver were found to be significantly longer and with a higher number of pulses than sounds produced in later stages. During agonistic intrasexual quiver displays, males produced significantly longer sounds with more pulses than females. Also, male sounds had a shorter duration and pulse period in courtship than in male–male interactions. Taken together, these results show that the acoustic repertoire of this species is larger than what was previously known and emphasize the importance of further research exploiting the role of acoustic stimuli in intra- and interspecific communication in African cichlids.
- Differences in sounds made by courting males of three closely related Lake Malawi cichlid speciesPublication . Amorim, Maria Clara Pessoa; Knight, Mairi E.; Stratoudakis, Yorgos; Turner, George F.Courtship sounds made by three sympatric cichlid species, Pseudotropheus zebra, P. callainos and an undescribed species known as P. ‘zebra gold’ were recorded and compared to investigate the potential role of acoustic signals in mate choice. Sounds were emitted during ‘quiver’ and ‘circle’ components of the male courtship display and consisted of rapidly repeated pulse units. Some sound variables differed significantly among species with P. callainos generally being separated from the other two species. This species produced sounds with higher peak frequency (for a given length) and lower number of pulses than P. ‘zebra gold’ and higher pulse durations than P. zebra. In addition, standard length was inversely related to peak frequency in both P. ‘zebra gold’ and P. callainos (this relation was not tested in P. zebra due to the small sample size). These differences might indicate different regimes of intraspecific sexual selection among the three species.
- Species differences in courtship acoustic signals among five Lake Malawi cichlid species (Pseudotropheus spp.)Publication . Amorim, Maria Clara Pessoa; Simões, José Miguel; Fonseca, Paulo Jorge; Turner, George F.Male courtship acoustic signals from five Lake Malawi cichlid fish species of the Pseudotropheus zebra complex were recorded and compared. Sounds made by males of P. zebra, Pseudotropheus callainos and the undescribed species known as Pseudotropheus ‘zebra gold’ from Nkhata Bay, and Pseudotropheus emmiltos and Pseudotropheus faizilberi from Mphanga Rocks, differed significantly in the number of pulses and in pulse period. The largest differences in acoustic variables were found among the sympatric Mphanga Rocks species that, in contrast to the other three species, show relatively minor differences in male colour and pattern. These findings suggest that interspecific mate recognition is mediated by multimodal signals and that the mass of different sensory channels varies among sympatric species groups. This study also showed that sound peak frequency was significantly negatively correlated with male size and that sound production rate increased significantly with courtship rate.