Female pintado catfish choose well-fed males Percilia Cardoso Giaquinto 1) (Laboratory of Animal Physiology and Behaviour/Physiology Department, State University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil) (Accepted: 16 September 2009) Summary This study tested the preference of pintado catfish females (Pseudoplatystoma coruscans) for associating with well-fed or food-deprived males in simultaneous choice tests. Females were tested under three different treatments in which: (1) females could choose on the basis of multiple cues from the well-fed or food-deprived males (visual plus chemical); (2) only chemical cues were presented; (3) only visual cues were presented. Females chose well-fed males when chemical cues were presented (either visual + chemical or only chemical cues). When only visual cues were presented, females spent an equal amount of time in the choice apparatus compartments. Chemical signals, either directly through control of pheromone production, or indirectly by excreted metabolites, are likely to be an important source of information about nutritional condition in mating choice. Keywords: pheromone, chemical cues, mating choice, sexual selection, catfish. Introduction A dilemma in sexual selection theory arises from the evolution of condition- dependent male signaling. Some theories on the evolution of female mat- ing choice predict that male traits preferred by females reliably indicate a male’s condition (Zahavi, 1975; Hamilton & Zuk, 1982; Andersson, 1994). However, such male signals do not necessarily indicate a male’s present con- dition, but often reflect a male’s performance in the recent past. Moreover, parasitism limits the development of vivid colour patterns, and females may 1) Author’s address: Depto. Fisiologia, IBB, Unesp, Cx. Postal 510, Cep 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brasil. E-mail: perciliag@gmail.com © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 Behaviour 147, 319-332 DOI:10.1163/000579509X12535339073761 Also available online - www.brill.nl/beh