Diamond Davis

Peer Reviewed Article Summary

5th hr
5/24/13

The researchers in this study evaluated the body preference in the pot- bellied seahorse
Hippocampus abdominalis. They tested the hypothesis that males prefer large females
because body size is known to be a factor in the offspring number, while female pot bellied
seahorses have no body size preference. Body size is important in mating decisions in most
animals, with a larger partner being preferred. In seahorse reproduction there is male pregnancy.
The males have a brood pouch where the females transfer their eggs before fertilization. Once
fertilized the embryos develop in the brood until they are released as completely developed and
independent seahorses. The egg and offspring number usually increases with the females body
size in ectotherms, which seahorses are. In males, large brood size can be carried by small or
large males. Also, no correlation between larger males and smaller ones influence the fecundity.
Fecundity is the number of offspring or measure of fertility. So while female size has a definite
and suggestive affect on fecundity, the male size seems to be questionable.

To test their hypothesis the researchers obtained sexually mature age H.abdominalis
individuals from a breeding facility in Tasmania. The males and females were kept separate to
avoid pair bonding before mate choice trials. All seahorses were fed the same thing three times
each day. The wet weight and standard length (SL) was measured of each seahorse. The
seahorses were then divided into four size classes: small females, large females, small males, and
large males. The females seahorses were noticeably larger than the males. The influence of both
wet weight and SL were investigated. Water specifications were kept constant throughout the
experiment January 16 to February 16, 2007, keeping the temperature, pH, salinity, and light
regime constant. Seahorses most reproductively active during the first hours of daylight. So the

Diamond Davis
Peer Reviewed Article Summary
5th hr
5/24/13

experiments were done from 0800 to 0930 hours and was started by the artificial light phase.
Choice tanks had three sections with an opaque divider separating the two stimulus seahorses
and a clear divider separating the stimulus animals from the focal seahorse. Each seahorse was
given a choice between two seahorses of the opposite sex with different size classes. 14 focal
females and seven focal males didn't enter the preference zones at anytime. Males spent
significantly more time in the preference zones than females. The five smallest females were
among the many females that never entered the preference zone. This could suggest that a female
seahorse's interest in reproduction could be correlated with body size. The focal females total
time spent in the preference zone correlated positively with their SL, while no correlation was
found between male body size and activity levels in the trial.

The researchers hypothesis was supported. The females showed no preference for large or
small males while males showed an obvious preference for large females. This sexual selection
pressure can be used to explain the sexual size dimorphism in the population, where females are
larger than males. Future studies of Seahorse reproductive behavior should be a larger and more
balanced sample size. Their experiment did not control for the influence of behavioral or
morphological characters on mate choice in the seahorses. A future study could investigate the
importance of behavioral and chemical cues in the mate choices.