If you think your romantic relationship is complicated, it will seem like children’s games compared to how this fish mounts coral reefs off Panama. This monogamous hermaphrodite creature of just 8 cm in length changes sex with their partner at least 20 times a day. At one point, one is male and one female, and a while later the matter is reversed.
This unusual behavior, described by biologists at the University of Florida (USA) in the Journal of Behavioral Ecology, is due to a reproductive strategy that allows individuals to pale serrano (Serranus tortugarum) fertilize the eggs they produce, they are giving them an advantage. This habit may seem odd but ultimately delivers what human beings know of relationships: you get what you give.
What happens is that each copy pay attention to if your partner contributes equally to the relationship. In fact, the duo motivate each other to contribute more eggs. And the only way to convince the couple to produce more is to take over and generate more self.
The authors studied these fish for six months in the waters of Panama. The surprise was that all couples stayed together until one or both of them disappeared from the study site. It is known that only 3% to 5% of known animals live in a monogamous, so this is somewhat difficult to find, especially for a fish that lives in a social group of high density where there are many opportunities to start a new ” Romance”.
Games before nightfall
Throughout their adult life, the couple joins fish for two hours each day before sunset shelter in your area, or spawning territory. Scare away other fish and begin with a ritual foreplay half an hour floating around each other, an activity that helps to strengthen the union of the couple. Eventually it becomes clear that fish will assume the feminine role for the first of many rounds of spawning.
The search for a new partner every night is wasting time and it is risky for a fish that lives only about a year. Having a secure partner can help ensure that individuals fertilize a similar number of eggs, rather than risk ending up with a partner who has less.
The fish, however, is not opposed to have an occasional adventure. If one of the partners has more eggs than the other, they can share the extra with other couples. Although this option is rare, because it happened only 20% of the time in the study group. And besides, the fish always comes back with their partner at the end of the day.
