True Love: A fish’s tail of the effect of color is sexual selection

Abstract

 Studies have shown that female guppies prefer males with warm color patterns (Brown 1985). Research shows that this preference is due to the longer wavelengths in the visual spectrum (Weadick 2007). Very few studies have been conducted to see if this observation can be switched from female preference to warm colored males to male preference to warm colored females. Our research was conducted by testing various colors along the visual spectrum against neutral colored models and observing which model the male guppy preferred. The results displayed that the male guppies held preference for the warm-colored models. Further research could be conducted to solidify these results in the form of more trials with more male guppies.