Download the Tab For A Cause browser extension at https://tabforacause.org/minuteearth2 When it comes to the mating game, fish have some of the strangest ways of thwarting the competition. LEARN MORE ************** To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: - Alternative mating strategy: a strategy used by male or female animals, often with distinct phenotypes, that differs from the prevailing mating strategy. - Dependent selection: an evolutionary process by which the fitness of a phenotype or genotype depends on the phenotype or genotype composition of a given population. SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH ************************** If you like what we do, you can help us!: - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Our merch: null - Our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Share this video with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) CREDITS ********* Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Arcadi Garcia i Ruis | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info/ OUR STAFF ************ Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida OUR LINKS ************ Youtube | null TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth Website | https://minuteearth.com/ Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176 REFERENCES ************** Dominey, Wallace J. “Female Mimicry in Male Bluegill Sunfish—a Genetic Polymorphism?” Nature, vol. 284, no. 5756, Apr. 1980, pp. 546–548, https://doi.org/10.1038/284546a0 “Evolution of Alternative Reproductive Strategies: Frequency-Dependent Sexual Selection in Male Bluegill Sunfish | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2022, royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.1991.0033 Gross, Mart R. “Alternative Reproductive Strategies and Tactics: Diversity within Sexes.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 11, no. 2, Feb. 1996, pp. 92–98, https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-5347(96)81050-0 Gross, Mart R. “Sneakers, Satellites and Parentals: Polymorphic Mating Strategies in North American Sunfishes.” Zeitschrift Für Tierpsychologie, vol. 60, no. 1, 12 Jan. 1982, pp. 1–26, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1982.tb01073.x Jukema, Joop, and Theunis Piersma. “Permanent Female Mimics in a Lekking Shorebird.” Biology Letters, vol. 2, no. 2, 10 Jan. 2006, pp. 161–164, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0416 Neff, B. D. “Genetic Paternity Analysis and Breeding Success in Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus).” Journal of Heredity, vol. 92, no. 2, 1 Mar. 2001, pp. 111–119, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/92.2.111 Neff, B. D. “Sperm Investment and Alternative Mating Tactics in Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus).” Behavioral Ecology, vol. 14, no. 5, 1 Sept. 2003, pp. 634–641, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arg032 Neff, Bryan D., and Erik I. Svensson. “Polyandry and Alternative Mating Tactics.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 368, no. 1613, 5 Mar. 2013, p. 20120045, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0045 Neff, Bryan. Personal Communication