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The Effects Of Carotenoid And Food Intake On Caudal Fin Regeneration In Male Guppies, Gita R. Kolluru, N. C. Ruiz, N. Del Cid, Eric Dunlop, Gregory F. Grether

Biological Sciences

The trade‐offs involved in allocating carotenoid pigments and food to healing and regrowing damaged caudal fin tissue v. other functions were examined in guppies Poecilia reticulata, a species in which females prefer males that display larger amounts of carotenoids in their skin. The guppies were derived from four natural populations in Trinidad that differed in resource availability but not predation intensity. Carotenoids, food and site of origin did not affect either absolute or relative fin regrowth, which suggested that fin regeneration in guppies was not constrained by carotenoid availability. It is possible that carotenoid intake influences fin regeneration in …