Color in Relation to Male Mate Choice in Poecilia reticulata

Abstract

The Poecilia reticulata or guppy is an animal that many scientists study. They are easy to observe and take care of, so they can be used for different types of experiments. These experiments can involve things like mating behavior, species behavior, and experiments to do with population, etc. In our experiment we decided to test the attraction of male guppies to different colors of guppies. We did this by using 3D models of guppies and observing how the male guppies interact with them. We watched and observed different male guppies with at least two different colored models. Most of the guppies did not seem to care for the models, but with the data we got we determined that the brighter colored models got more attention than the dimmer colored models. This is due to the sexual behaviors that were performed by the male guppy. We decided to test the guppies attraction to color because color can play an important role in our different organisms interact and behave in their environment.