• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.437-446
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• 1996

The courtship and fighting behaviors and the sexual dimorphism of the salamander Hynohius leechil were studied. The parameters, snout vent length, body length (from snout to tail tip), and proportion of snout vent length to body size were larger in the female than the male. Five physical parameter in males were significantly correlated with one another, body length, snout vent length, head width, tail vent length, and tall depth, while all, except tail depth, were significantly correlated in females. Sexual behavior of H. leechIl involved external fertilization and consisted of three stages, identifying the female, aifrading the female, and insemination. The identification stage consisted of a positive advance by the male toward the female and display of snout contact. The male attracted the female with chin rubbing, tail undulation, smelling, and digging displays. The insemination process consisted of four phases, amplex, separating egg sacs from the female's cloacal, fertilizing eggs, and post fertilization. liighting behaviors were quite simple. The attacking male would generally bite the opposite male's upper chin or hind limbs and then shakes his head two or three times. The bitten male, which in most cases was of a dissimilar body size, quicidy escaped from the attacking male. After fighting, winning male usually displayed rapid tail undulation.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2016

Cichlid fish species exhibit characteristic sexual behaviors according to not only reproductive stages but also social status. In a reproductive season, Astatotilapia burtoni males compete for females and a small number of dominant winners finally obtain the chance of spermiation. In addition to the characteristic behaviors, the dominant males have relatively bigger gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) neurons in the preoptic area (POA) of brain compared to those of subordinate males. Although the stimulatory effect of GnRH1 in vertebrate reproduction is well established, little is known about the triggering signal pathway to control GnRH1 neurons and GnRH1-mediated sexual behavior. In the present study, we evaluated the potential effect of TOR inhibitor rapamycin in relation to the cichlid male behaviors and GnRH1 neuron. After 14 h and 26 h of intraventricular injection of rapamycin, behavior patterns of chasing and courtship display did not show significant changes between rapamycin- and DMSO-injected males. Behaviors of spawning site entry increased in rapamycin-injected fish at 26 h post-injection than at 14 h post-injection significantly (P<0.05). Meanwhile, there was a tendency that GnRH1 neurons' soma size in the POA shrank by rapamycin injection, whereas the testes did not show notable changes. Taken together, these results suggest the possible role of TOR signal on GnRH1-mediated sexual behavior in cichlid dominant males, although further biological characterization of the TOR signaling pathway will be required to clarify this matter.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.865-872
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• 2015

Body size is one of the important factors that determine mating success in various animal taxa. Nevertheless, only few related studies have been conducted on Korean salamanders. In this study, we have investigated whether large male Gori salamander (Hynobius yangi), which is a Korean endemic species and is unknown for its mating behaviors, is dominant in the mating competition than small males. Thirteen sets of mating trials composed of one large male, one small male, and one female per each group were analyzed in the categories of courtship display towards females, male competition and egg fertilizing behavior. The results show that the mating behaviors between large and small males towards females or with each other did not significantly differ. These results may have been caused by a small size variation among males and the presence of plenty of oviposition locations in breeding sites. This is the first report on Gori salamander's mating behaviors.