egg spots

[Led]

I finally segregated a trio of

Cobue afra that I have. One is holding now....polits were too much for them I think. Anyway, I

was really checking them out and noticed that even the subdominant female has an egg spot. I have

noticed that before on my Cyn. "Mbweca" afra. I have roughly 12 of them and everyone of

them has at least one eggspot. I get fry out of them so I know I have females. I just thought it

odd that two types of afra seem to all have egg spots. The "Jalo Reef" and

"Ussisya" afra don't seem to follow suit. http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif

[bobrfish]

Hi Led,

nice to see

you here. Noticed same thing on peacocks and members of Pseudotropheus genus. Do not know why.

Egg spots are more predominant on males and thus are likely turned on in genome by male hormones.

Females likely have small amount of male hormones in their systems, maybe as a precurser to female

hormone. Thus some egg spots are expressed in females. These spots always see to be on anal fin

in females whereas in males they are seen on both anal and dorsal fins.
What function do egg

spots serve in females? My guess is none. Generally the spots are not as colorful as in males and

may just be a by product of hormone metabolism as suggested above.
These are guesses on my

part. There is a lot of research done on egg spots. Some of the research is like everything else,

worthless. Other research may actually have the answer. Will see what is out there and let you

know what is known.

[Led]

It is something I have wondered

about. I figured it had to do with hormones. Especially since wondering if I had a reverse trio

of Cobue because of the dominant coloration the now holding female was showing. I would have bet

money one day that she was a male for sure!!!!
But, what would be the

differences between say "Mbweca" and "Jalo Reef" afra??? Same family, big

difference in the number of egg spots when talking about the fish in my tanks!!! http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif It is very odd. Someday we will know. http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[TxCichlidBreeder]

Yeah what bobrfish

said is right. I don't even think about the eggspots when guessing what they are M/F. Waste of

time...G/L... http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif

[Led]

A friend sent me some of the Red

Top Gallilea zebras. He told me the males had 3 egg spots in a triangular pattern and that the

females had one eggspot. Just found that interesting. They haven't been around that long but

he managed to knock that fact down quickly enough. http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif