A releaser pheromone that attracts methyltestosterone- treated immature fish in the urine of ovulated female rainbow trout |
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Authors: | Hidenobu Yambe Fumio Yamazaki |
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Institution: | Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Hokkaido 041-8611, Japan |
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Abstract: | SUMMARY: Behavioral experiments concerning a releaser pheromone in the urine of female rainbow trout were performed using immature fish administered orally with 17α-methyltestosterone (MT) during the non-spawning season. The urine was collected by catheter. The frequency of entries of test fish was recorded in each channel scented by test and control solutions in a Y-maze trough. The behavior of both MT-treated and control fish demonstrated that they could not discriminate the differences between distilled and environmental water as control solutions. There was also no difference between MT-treated and control fish when distilled and environmental water were introduced. The MT-treated immature fish were attracted to the channel scented by ovulated female urine. Neither coelomic fluid nor the immature female urine had any effect on the behavioral responses of MT-treated fish, while immature control fish had no preference for the urine of ovulated females. These results suggest in rainbow trout that ovulated female urine contains a releaser pheromone to attract mature males, and that androgens are involved in the sensory mechanisms detecting the releaser pheromone in fish. |
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Keywords: | androgen behavior coelomic fluid pheromone rainbow trout sex attractant urine |
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