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Chromatic interaction between egg pigmentation and skin chromatophores in the nuptial coloration of female two-spotted gobies

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posted on 2005-12-01, 00:00 authored by Per Andreas Svensson, E Forsgren, T Amundsen, H Sköld
In two-spotted gobies (Gobiusculus flavescens Fabricius 1779), females develop an orange belly as they approach sexual maturity. Bright belly coloration is preferred by males and has been suggested to act as a female ornament. This coloration is unusual in that it originates partly from pigmentation of the abdominal skin but also from strongly pigmented gonads directly visible through the skin. In addition, females have been observed to temporarily become more colourful during courtship and competition. To understand how gonad and skin pigmentation interact in this nuptial coloration, the potential for colour modification via regulation of skin chromatophores was investigated. Noradrenaline caused aggregation of chromatophore pigment and was used to experimentally reduce the contribution of skin chromatophores to the nuptial coloration. Chromatophore pigment aggregation caused bellies to become less colourful and abdominal skin biopsies to become less colourful and more transparent. There was a strong positive relationship between belly coloration and the coloration of the underlying gonads. This shows that belly coloration honestly reflects egg pigmentation, mainly because the transparency of the abdominal skin allows other fish to see the gonads directly. Interestingly, when noradrenaline caused pigment to aggregate and thereby increased the transparency of the skin, the relationship between belly and gonad coloration weakened. We conclude that female G. flavescens have a potential to use skin chromatophores to rapidly alter their nuptial coloration, thereby affecting the efficacy with which information about gonad coloration is conveyed.

History

Journal

Journal of experimental biology

Volume

208

Pagination

4391 - 4397

Location

Cambridge, U.K.

Open access

  • Yes

ISSN

0022-0949

eISSN

1477-9145

Language

eng

Notes

Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner.

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2005 , The Company of Biologists Limited

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