Altering an extended phenotype reduces intraspecific male aggression and can maintain diversity in cichlid fish.

ABSTRACT: Reduced male aggression towards different phenotypes generating negative frequency-dependent intrasexual selection has been suggested as a mechanism to facilitate the invasion and maintenance of novel phenotypes in a population. To date, the best empirical evidence for the phenomenon has been provided by laboratory studies on cichlid fish with different colour polymorphisms. Here we experimentally tested the hypothesis in a natural population of Lake Malawi cichlid fish, in which males build sand-castles (bowers) to attract females during seasonal leks. We predicted that if bower shape plays an important role in male aggressive interactions, aggression among conspecific males should decrease when their bower shape is altered. Accordingly, we allocated randomly chosen bowers in a Nyassachro

SUBMITTER: Magalhaes IS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3845871 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature