Multiple mating and its relationship to brood size in pregnant fishes versus pregnant mammals and other viviparous vertebrates.

ABSTRACT: We summarize the literature on rates of multiple paternity and sire numbers per clutch in viviparous fishes vs. mammals, two vertebrate groups in which pregnancy is common but entails very different numbers of embryos (for species surveyed, piscine broods averaged >10-fold larger than mammalian litters). As deduced from genetic parentage analyses, multiple mating by the pregnant sex proved to be common in assayed species but averaged significantly higher in fish than mammals. However, within either of these groups we found no significant correlations between brood size and genetically deduced incidence of multiple mating by females. Overall, these findings offer little support for the hypothesis that clutch size in pregnant species predicts the outcome of selection for multiple mating by b

SUBMITTER: Avise JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3084085 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature