Something Smells Fishy: Why Are Our Male Guppies Attracted to Primarily White Models?

Abstract

Male guppies have very distinct mating behaviors and mating choices. For this experiment, we believe that the male’s choice would be based on color alone, due to guppies being able to see a much broader range of color than humans. More specifically, we hypothesized that they would choose white models due to the combination of wavelengths.  Due to the male being continuously uninterested in the models, we also think that the models’ stiffness could contribute to the male being uninterested. Our male chose the white model for almost every trial, even when presented with models of larger sizes and colors of longer wavelengths.