Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Ethol.
Sec. Social Behavior and Communication
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fetho.2024.1513231

Male bluegill vary in color and behavior relative to their position in a lek

Provisionally accepted
Matthew Hackett Matthew Hackett 1,2Elana Anavian Elana Anavian 1Kevin Arteaga Almeida Kevin Arteaga Almeida 1Fatima Iya Haruna Fatima Iya Haruna 1Aliza Siegman Aliza Siegman 1Wei Fang Wei Fang 3Sebastian Gaston Alvarado Sebastian Gaston Alvarado 1,2*
  • 1 Queens College (CUNY), New York City, United States
  • 2 The Graduate Center,The City University of New York, New York City, New York, United States
  • 3 Pace University, New York City, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Animals organize into social groups to increase collective fitness. These groups use behavior and morphological traits like color to communicate social status. Male bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) form breeding collectives during the reproductive months. However, whether these colonies generate resource-stratified social hierarchies to manage intrasexual competition is unknown. We hypothesize that territorial position within the colony results in different body colors and behavioral profiles. To test this hypothesis, we quantified color patterns in wild communities of bluegill using computer vision, scored the behavior of lek occupying parental males, and categorically classified lek position as a function of neighboring males. From these data, we show that body coloration and behavior vary with lek position, suggesting a division of labor in the construction and maintenance of grouped territories where courtship and sexual selection take place. Collectively, these data underline the importance of male-specific morphological plasticity and its impacts on social organization.

    Keywords: coloration, Lek behavior, Lepomis, Social Behavior, Bluegill, Lepomis machrochirus, body coloration, Lek attendance

    Received: 18 Oct 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hackett, Anavian, Almeida, Haruna, Siegman, Fang and Alvarado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sebastian Gaston Alvarado, Queens College (CUNY), New York City, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.