| Summary: | The painted goby Pomatoschistus pictus is a small marine benthic fish species that inhabits coastal sandy, rocky or gravel substrates. Breeding occurs from January to May, when nesting males court nearby females by performing displays with both visual and vocal components. After spawning females abandon the nest while the males take care of the brood. Males with a higher lipid content appear to invest more in acoustic (drum signals) rather than in visual courtship, suggesting that drumming activity is a good indicator of male fat reserves. Thus, males with higher acoustic activity could be signalling better male quality and likely better parental care abilities, as the latter is typically condition-dependent. Here we tested the effect of different calling rates on female mate choice with playback experiments to assess if the males with highest acoustic signalling rates are the most successful in mating. During trials females could choose between matched size males associated with either high or low calling rate. Females consistently showed preference for males associated to high drum playback rates, provided they had access to the males. However, if females did not have visual contact with males, no preference was shown. The females preference appeared to be solely determined by the calling rate since the total visual courtship and male condition (K factor) were similar between males associated with high and low calling rates. Taken together these results suggest that females select males based on higher acoustic courtship intensity because this may be an indicator of parental quality.
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