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Sex–Specific Effects Of Carotenoid Intake On The Immunological Response To Allografts In Guppies (Poecilia Reticulata), Gregory F. Grether, Shinji Kasahara, Gita R. Kolluru, Edwin L. Cooper

Biological Sciences

Rarely are the evolutionary origins of mate preferences known, but, recently, the preference of female guppies (Poecilia reticulata) for males with carotenoid‐based sexual coloration has been linked to a sensory bias that may have originally evolved for detecting carotenoid‐rich fruits. If carotenoids enhance the immune systems of these fishes, as has been suggested for other species, this could explain the origin of the attraction to orange fruits as well as the maintenance of the female preference for orange males. We used the classic immunological technique of tissue grafting to assay a component of the immune response of guppies …