Prompt 9

When watching the pipefish, it seems like this role reversal is uncommonly strange. Why would the female have the striking colors while the male appears as the less striking sex? While considering the sexual dimorphism of some organisms, we know that each sex usually has a distinct pattern difference. Knowing sexual selection, usually the males appear as these striking colors and displays to attract their future mates to carry their eggs. The answer is not as illogical as one might originally think. Putting two and two together, it seems like the reason for this change is that the female needs the flashy display because they are not the ones carrying the eggs. In fact, much like a sea horse, the father is the lovely pouch that carries the eggs. 



Thinking about it in the context of the natural world, this flip in egg carrying does not seem too strange. The males usually invest less in the production process because they are not the ones that have to incubate the eggs and are able to mate much more often. However, as the females are unable to due to their reproduction cycle and their investment, this makes male competition harder since the females can be pickier about the type of mate they wanted. Thus the non-egg carrier can harbor the flashy and fun looks so that the egg incubator can choose from a buffet of colors. Now if the males are the ones carrying the eggs, then the roles are simply reversed and the females are the ones that have to work harder in order to show the appeal to mate with them instead. An interesting study found that males will even reduce their investment in eggs that they are carrying in order to mate with a more attractive female. Knowing this, it makes sense why the attractive pipefish females would evolve more to increase their chance of better courtship. 


Enjoy this image of a seahorse taking a trip on a pipefish. 



Cunha, M., Berglund, A., Mendes, S., & Monteiro, N. (2018). The ‘Woman in Red’effect: pipefish males curb pregnancies at the sight of an attractive female. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 285(1885), 20181335.

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