FEMALE SAND GOBIES PREFER GOOD FATHERS OVER DOMINANT MALES

Female preference for males successful in male-male competition is gen erally assumed to result in mating with high quality males. Here I rep ort results from an experiment disentangling the effects of intra-and intersexual selection in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus, a mari ne fish that exhibits paternal care. I show that large males are succe ssful in male-male competition, but contrary to what one would expect, dominants are not preferred by females and are not better at taking c are of the eggs. Female preference, however, correlated with the subse quent hatching success of the eggs. Thus, female choice selects for go od parenting. Hence, direct benefits in the form of superior paternal care can explain female choice in this species, supporting a good pare nt process of sexual selection. However, choosing on the outcome of ma le-male competition does not enable females to mate with the 'best' ma les.