Contradictory asymmetries in body and weapon size, and assessment in fighting male prawns, Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Abstract

Asymmetries in weapon size and body size, both contributing to an animal's fighting ability, may be contradictory in two fighting Macrobrachium rosenbergii males: One male may be larger in body size but smaller in cheliped size than its rival. The aim of the study was to determine the relevance of these two asymmetries in the assessment of relative fighting ability, and to reveal the effect of the asymmetry level on the structure of contests. Thirty contests were staged between male prawns from the ‘blue-clawed’ morphotype and the ‘orange-clawed’ morphotype. The blue-clawed males were 0%, 10%, or 20% larger in cheliped length but 93%, 45%, or 25% smaller in weight, respectively (n = 10), as compared to their orange-clawed opponents. The blue-clawed males with 10% and 20% advantage in cheliped length almost invariably won the contests. When similar in cheliped length, the 93% smaller blue-clawed males still won half of the contests. This indicated that the prawns ignored large asymmetries in body size even when no asymmetry in cheliped size existed. The results suggest that only cheliped size is used by M. rosenbergii males in the assessment of fighting ability. The effect of asymmetry level on contest structure was apparent only with the increase from 10% to 20% difference in cheliped size: Both the frequency and the intensity of fighting were lower in contests between prawns with 20% difference, as compared to 0% and 10% difference in cheliped length. Aggr. Behav. 23:81–91, 1997.© 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.