Acquired sexual preferences in medaka

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H06652
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Japan Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Kamijo Makiko 日本女子大学, 理学部, 研究員 (80758722)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-08-28 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 性的嗜好性 / 学習 / メダカ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mate-choice experiments of male Medaka were conducted between two skin-color variants , color interfere (ci) and Actb-SLα:GFP (soma), which are different in the skin color regulated by a single gene. These strains were reared with various tank mates from hatch until sexual maturation. Matured males were allowed to mate with novel two females of different strains for 30 minutes, and the number of courtship behaviors to each female was counted to assess his preference. Preference test with pair of two strains female was repeated for four successive days. When these strains had been reared separately, the males strongly preferred females of the same strain. However, if the strains had been reared in a mixed condition or each fish was reared individually, the males increased interests in females of the other strain. These results indicate that sexual preferences of males are established being affected by fish they grow up with.

Free Research Field

比較心理学