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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
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.
Description
Keywords
Acoustic communication Courtship Mate choice P. zebra complex Reproductive isolation Sound production
Citation
Journal of Fish Biology, 72, 1355-1368