Porn for your fish?

[Edwin]

I found this article interesting.. guess I should buy Finding Nemo when it comes out.

Fish discover pleasure in 'porn
online.ie 12 Jun 2003



Fish can be turned on by an aquatic equivalent of pornography, according to new research revealed today.

Scientists at a Swiss university have discovered that male sticklebacks ejaculate more sperm if first stimulated by a "soft porn" film showing flirting fish.


It is thought that the image sparks off a competitive instinct in the spectating sticklebacks to ensure they stand the highest chance of fertilising their female's eggs.


The researchers at the University of Fribourg believe the fish porn simulates conditions in the wild where mating male sticklebacks ejaculate more if they are threatened by other finned Romeos swimming nearby.


Mating is a cut-throat business among sticklebacks. The male builds a nest before beginning an elaborate courtship with his chosen female.


When sufficiently charmed by her male, the female lays her eggs in his nest for him to ejaculate over to fertilise them.


But, often, other frisky males sneak into the nest and try to fertilise the eggs as well.


Males who feel their nest is threatened ejaculate more to raise their chances of being the first to father the baby fish.


To gain a better understanding of what the males consider to be highly-threatening situations, the researchers put together two full-colour computer animations showing virtual sticklebacks.


According to a report in the New Scientist, the first was the "sexy" film of a male courting a female, while the other showed a male caring for his brood.


Both films were shown to 17 male sticklebacks who had each built a nest from twine in a gravel-filled Petrie dish in their separate fish tanks.


The two films were shown in random order to each male.


After each stickleback had watched one film for a couple of minutes, a female was put in the tank to spawn.


The New Scientist reported that each fish ejaculated more sperm over the eggs if they'd seen the fish porn than if they had just seen the male with brood.

Link:
http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=2030794