The effect of female presence on spermiation, and of male sexual activity on 'ready' sperm in the male guppy

This study examines the effect of female presence on the amount of 'strippable' sperm, and the relationship between male sexual activity and the amount of 'ready' sperm in the male guppy Poecilia reticulata. The amount of strippable sperm was greater in males paired for one week with females than in isolated males. We separated these 'paired' males from females by a clear partition and thus exposed males to visual and possibly olfactory stimuli. In the second experiment, control males spent more time attending females and performed more sexual acts during a 15-min test period than males previously stripped of spermatophores. These results indicate that females play an important role in stimulating sperm availability in males and that the amount of ready sperm influences male sexual behaviour. (C) 2003 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All tights reserved.