Effect of female body color on mate selection by male Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)

ABSTRACT

The effect of female body color on mate selection by male Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) was assessed. A single black or gold male was placed in each of nine spawning net cages along with three gold and three black females. Number of spawns and day of spawns were recorded over a 14-day period. All males spawned, and 29 of 54 of females spawned. Female body color had no effect on the number of spawns or day of spawn with either gold or black males. Body color of females did not elicit sexual selection by either gold or black males.

KEYWORDS:

• Tilapia
• body color
• sexual selection

Acknowledgments

This paper is fondly dedicated to the memories of R. Oneal Smitherman and Mahmoud Rezk, who assisted me during this study. I thank Alison Hutson and Kevin Fitzsimmons for reviewing the manuscript.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).