Female cichlids want heroes and not zeroes
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As women who are dating boxers might have some changes in their feeling for their men if they lose a fight, the very same kind of change is noticed amongst the cichlid female fish. Yes, they want heroes and not zeroes.
The African cichlid females' brains showed signs of anxiety after witnessing a preferred mate lose a fight with another fish. At the same time, seeing their chosen male beat down his opponent resulted in increased activity in parts of the female's brain associated with reproduction and pleasure.
To analyse the effect of fish fighting on the female cichlids , the researchers split an aquarium into three see-through compartments. The female was placed in the center and the males on either side. The females showed mating behaviour towards the males they selected. After making her selection, the female always went back to the same male. Now after two days observation, the males were shifted to same compartment for battle. Following the 20-minute battle royale, the scientists dissected the females' brains.
To utter surprise there was an entire change in the brain activity. For an outside observer it was just like two identical fish fraying out, but it was very very different for the female fish.
Unfortunately, since the observation of brain activity involved killing the females, there was no way to determine if she would act upon the anxiety produced by seeing her chosen mate get whupped. The next step in the research will be to see if the female dumps the zero and mates with the hero.
Via: discovery
