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Africa's Colorful Miracle: How does Astatotilapia burtoni change social roles?
Astatotilapia burtoni is a fish that lives in Lake Tanganyika and surrounding waters, including Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. The fish's natural habitats include rivers, wetlands and freshwater lakes,
Because of its unique biological characteristics, A. burtoni has become an important model organism for studying cichlid behavior and physiological systems. This fish belongs to the haplochromines group, which has the largest number of species and is considered the sister group of the Lake Victoria supergroup and the Lake Malawi supergroup.
Social behavior
Reversible male social roles
Miles of Astatotilapia burtoni are divided into two reversible phenotypes. Depending on their social environment, males can quickly switch between territorial and nonterritorial behavior. Territorial males have bright colors, aggressive behavior associated with protecting territory, and a role in actively mating with females; non-territorial males have colors similar to females, lack the initiative to pursue females, and are eliminated due to gonad atrophy. suppress. Changing social roles can lead to multiple changes in the brain and reproductive system.
If a territorial male is placed with a significantly larger individual, it will quickly transform into a non-territorial type. This change can be detected in behavioral and color changes.
The influence of hormones
Research suggests that the stress hormone cortisol may play a direct role in social status. When animals are exposed to chronic stress, regression in reproductive capacity (e.g., transition from territorial males to nonterritorial males) may occur as the body strives to cope with the stress rather than using metabolic energy for long-term goals such as replication.
Social behavior associated with females
The changing roles of male cichlids in the social environment are closely related to the behavior of the surrounding females. Females can independently make mating choices based on their reproductive status. Studies have shown that a female's transition between egg-bearing and non-pregnant states affects male preference, with egg-bearing females showing a clear preference for territorial males.
Egg-bearing female cichlids prefer to mate with territorial males because this is necessary for the egg-laying process.
Reproductive behavior
Male courtship and mother’s oral care of young
Astatotilapia burtoni is a "courtship zone" species in which territorial males use their brightly colored dorsal fins to attract females. Studies have shown that males wiggle their bodies to get a female's attention.
Use of sound signals
Astatotilapia burtoni is used as an important model for studying multimodal communication, as this fish is particularly reliant on acoustic signals for mating interactions. In short audio communications, territorial males emit specific mating sounds to attract the attention of females.
Research shows that the sounds produced by territorial males are similar to the sounds they can perceive, indicating that they are used consciously to court mates rather than produced randomly.
Conclusion
The social behavior and reproductive strategies of Astatotilapia burtoni demonstrate the flexibility and intelligence of organisms in adapting to different environments. This not only gives us a deeper understanding of the ecological behavior of cichlids, but also makes us think about how other animals respond when they face similar challenges.
