FEMALE MATE PREFERENCE FOR MALES HAVING LONG AND SYMMETRICAL FINS IN THE BOWER-HOLDING CICHLID CYATHOPHARYNX FURCIFER

Female mate preference in a bower-holding cichlid, Cyathopharynx furci fer, was studied in Lake Tanganyika. Most males held territories with crater-shaped bowers in sand, but some males held territories without bowers. Territories were distributed adjacently and females visited th em to spawn. After engaging in circling behaviour with the male, a fem ale deposited eggs in the bower. Soon after spawning, the female picke d the eggs up into her mouth and brooded them in places away from male territories. Female mate choice appeared to follow three steps: 1) fe males visited only bower-holding male territories, and more frequently visited territories of males that performed courtship displays at a h igher frequency and had longer pelvic fins; 2) females preferred to st art circling with males having longer and more symmetrical pelvic fins ; 3) females chose males with more symmetrical pelvic fins as their ma tes. Less than 7% of females that visited male territories spawned egg s in the bowers. In contrast to other bower-holding species, bower siz e did not correlate with male reproductive success in c. furcifer. Bow ers may therefore be essential as spawning sites or may function as a species recognition character for females. Female choice may be depend ent instead on males having long and symmetrical pelvic fins apparent during the circling behaviour carried out in the bowers.