Mating | Divinely Complex Mating Strategies of Poecilia Parae

Pursuing Genetic Purity in ‘Poecilia Parae’ Fish

Unlike most species, ‘poecilla parae’ have maintained a level of color purity unknown in most of the animal or human kingdom. The fish come in exactly five, genetically determined colors: red, yellow, blue, parae (clear with a black stripe), and immaculate (drab grey that mimics the color of immature females).

This is one complicated evolutionary story, so please listen up!

Immaculates Must Get Dirty

If ‘immaculate’ makes you think of the Virgin Mary and birth without a sexual romp, erase. We’re entering the rough and tumble world of males at war. Even immaculates have to play ball, in order to reproduce.

The immaculates may be divine right fish, but they are generally the smallest and hate violence. The yellows almost always defeat the immaculatas, stopping them from approaching females.

Complicating the sex habits of ‘poecillia parae’ is the fact that girl fishies prefer red and yellow fish, just as human women prefer a man in red. (Why then do women say they hate red lingerie, man’s favorite color? No wonder we confound men.)

Not Enough Good Red and Yellows

Guess what? Females prefer a red fish or yellow one, but they are in short supply and the rarest colors found in the ‘poecilia parae’ wild. Forget the fact that the girl fish are promiscuous as hell. Even if they were monogamous, there’s not enough red and yellow males to meet their sexual needs.

You might think that the red and yellow ‘poecillia parae’ fish can just sail into the evolutionary mating game and take any female they wish.

Nada.

Girl Fish Rule

Monotheism hasn’t gotten to the world of little fishies, and the nubile, immaculate females still have major rights and control over their fish bodies. Original sin is unknown in their water world; sexual guilt is ‘say what?’; and they love sex.

Bottom line, the girls are still calling the shots. The male fish must fight for them.

The most recent study in BMC Evolutionary Biology found that while females prefer reds and yellows they go for the winner of fin-to-fin combat in a significant number of cases. In the study, the larger parae almost always prevailed, thus gaining a mating advantage despite its less-than-desirable coloration. Immaculatas, which are the smallest males, generally shunned the showy displays of violence and were mostly ignored by all but yellow males. The larger yellows almost always defeated immaculatas, stopping them from approaching females. via Science Daily

If red loses, it’s all over, even though the she fish likes him better. She goes with the winner parae and red licks his wounds until ready to fight again. Perhaps the red loser checks into the local gym or does some Rocky running move through the waters around Philadelphia for confidence and increased strength, so as not to embarras himself in the future.

Brains, Not Brawn Immaculatas

You couldn’t create a group of Christian warriors of out these male immaculatas because they are shrinking violets when fighting for the cause. Nevertheless, evolutionary science is on their side.

1. The unstained immaculates aren’t dolts. Their color allows them to travel unnoticed, camouflauged as they approach a female being seduced by a red guy. We’ve already explained the Ms. immaculate is a total slut, and she doesn’t mind a menage mating ritual for one moment. The more the merrier.

2. This next science fact gets downright saucy. Sir immaculate has developed larger testes, which produce more sperm. God knows we’ve written tons about sperm wars from here to Jerusalem; more sperm is an evolutionary advantage in the big win called procreation.

We talking fish here, but there is a strong connection to human populations, too, if you believe the fundamentalist and orthodox wings of most religions. Go forth and multiply.

At the end of this very complex science of fish mating among ‘poecilia parae’, based on female promiscuity, predator control, male dominance, sneak behavior and sperm competition, there’s a whole new chapter coming.

Blue’s Evolutionary Big Score

blue poecilia paraeGuess who carries the day more than any other color? Blue! IBM blue. Quite frankly, Anne is totally exhausted trying to tell this tale not fit for adult ears, let alone children. She must take a quiet walk to clear her mind.

Stay tuned for Big Blue, as soon as Jorge Luis Hurtado-Gonzales delivers the next chapter in this amazing fish tale.

Today’s Sex in Nature post isn’t the first time we’ve written that in the evolutionary mating game, the pretty boy doesn’t always the girl.

Ugly Betty Sparrow Isn’t Stupid

The ugly Betty sparrow set us straight on the ‘females always want to trade up’ assumption last August. Betty knows the manly studmuffin’s interest is only to spill his evolutionary bird seed with no commitment to sit on the eggs or send the birdies off to aviary college.

Tarzan Breaks A Few Bones

Among chichild fish “You Tarzan, Me Jane’ may apply, no matter which male chichild fish has an Ivy League trust fund. Skull & Bones doesn’t always cut it in the natural world.

Brawn wins again today, as Syracuse University scientists study how mating strategies among ‘poecilia parae’, very similar to guppies, preserve the population’s distinctive color diversity.