Just Keep Courting: Color Effects on the Mating Habits of Male Guppies (Poecilia reticulata).

Abstract

There has been much study on courtship in male and female guppies, Poecilia reticulata. We decided to focus on the effects of different colored female decoys on male mating selections by observing certain courting habits of the male guppies. We hypothesize that the males will be more attracted to female decoys of warmer colors (reds and oranges) than cooler colored decoys (greens and blues) because of pigments in a guppy’s eyes that allow them to see warmer colors more distinctly against the cool background of a streambed. We tested eight different colored sets of females: true purple, true blue, true green, true yellow, true orange, true red, true black a control. Our results found that males are, in fact, more attracted to warmly colored females; however, they were also more attracted to the control females than cooler colored ones.