The role of sexual harassment in cave and surface dwelling populations of the Atlantic molly, Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae, Teleostei)

Abstract

Sexual coercion is a common behaviour for males trying to compensate for being inferior in male competition and/or female choice. We measured the cost of male sexual harassment for females as reduced feeding time in three populations of the Atlantic molly (Poecilia mexicana). Of these populations, one originated from a typical river habitat, another from a lightless cave chamber and the third one from a small, milky creek outside the cave. We gave hungry females an opportunity to feed in the presence of either another female or a male. We found the following: (1) male sexual harassment represents a cost in the river dwelling population and both small and large males significantly reduce female feeding time; and (2) sexual harassment was not detected in the other two populations (cave and cave entrance). In the cave molly, small males are at a disadvantage in female choice, but predation by an aquatic heteropteran selects against large male body size.