Consorting among juvenile Midas cichlids (Cichlasoma citrinellum) in relation to own and to parents' color.
Adults of the Midas cichlid, Cichlasoma citrinellum, are either normal (N) colored or gold (G); they mate assortatively by color, and that choice is influenced by prior experience with their parents. Three groups of N and two groups of G juveniles were reared by parents which were either N or G. After some months of separation from their parents, the juveniles were tested to ascertain whether the color of their parents or of their cohorts affected their affiliative responses; they were given a choice between four G and four N juveniles. There was no demonstrable effect of either their parents' or their own color. All groups spent more time with N than with G and directed more behavior toward N. The subjects differed only in that they attacked more (at a higher rate) at N and spread their fins more (at a higher rate) at G, consistent with findings in earlier studies of the effect of gold color on dominance relationships. Thus mate choice does not result from continuous associations during development.
Department of Zoology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
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D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003118:Color Perception; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D007173:Imprinting, Psychological; D010471:Perches; D010473:Perciformes; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012880:Skin Pigmentation