The boy can dance: ritual courtship of the opal cling goby
Brendan C. Ebner
A B D and Darrell J. Kemp C
A TropWATER, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
B CSIRO Land and Water, Atherton, Qld 4883, Australia.
C Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: brendan.ebner@csiro.au
Pacific Conservation Biology 26(2) 201-203 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC19020
Submitted: 28 May 2019 Accepted: 22 July 2019 Published: 6 September 2019
Abstract
Field-based video recording of courtship between a male and female Stiphodon semoni (Family Gobiidae), afforded the opportunity to discern specific behaviours not reported of sicydiine gobies previously, including tail-wagging and kiss-like behaviour by the male. Furthermore, a subset of behaviours that resemble those from published reports of other sicydiines in courtship and a subset of behaviours that are analogous to those exhibited by guppies (Poecilia reticulata, Family Poeciliidae) are reported and discussed briefly and used to contend that sicydiines are ripe for detailed study of sexual signalling behaviour in fishes.
Additional keywords: courtship, iridescence, observer effect, Sicydiinae, tail-wagging, underwater video.
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