Sneakers take a predation risk to gain sneaking opportunities

Abstract

The act of mating increases predation risk by hindering an animal's ability to detect and escape from predators efficiently. Here, a novel issue of how alternative reproductive tactics differently influence these abilities was examined in the triplefin blenny, Enneapterygius etheostoma. A slow predator approach was presented to males with different mating tactics (territorial and sneaking) and mating states (mating and nonmating), totalling four combinations. Predator–male distance when males became wary was independent of tactics. The distance was shorter for mating males than nonmating males, but only when males faced away from the stimulus. Thus, mating state diminished the capacity for detecting danger similarly for both tactics. Predator–male distance when males initiated the escape was well predicted by mating state in sneakers, with shorter distances for mating individuals; however, the same was not obvious in territorial males. Consequently, sneakers escaped later than territorial males during mating, but both males escaped at a similar distance from the predator when in a nonmating state. Instead, mating territorial males returned to the spawning sites earlier than nonmating males. Overall, sneakers made bold escape decisions, whereas territorial males became risk prone when returning to the spawning sites. In conclusion, sneaking males pay a predation cost when mating.