Intraspecific differences in patterns of courtship behaviours between the Pacific Ocean and Japan Sea forms of the three‐spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus

Abstract

The courtship behaviour of the Pacific Ocean and Japan Sea forms of the three‐spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus were studied in seven populations. The intraspecific difference in behavioural patterns, zigzag dance and weak dorsal pricking in the Pacific Ocean form and lateral display and vigorous dorsal pricking in the Japan Sea form, was clearly distinguishable regardless of the type of habitat the males lived in.