Male fish show their best side

[Al-khiyal]

June 20, 2007 -- Men with lop-sided features take heart: you are not alone in the struggle to display your best-looking side to the opposite sex. Scientists in Canada claim to have the first evidence that other males attempt to hide their ugliest attributes too, and flaunt their best sides to court females.

The researchers spotted the behaviour while filming fish. Male guppies attract females by swimming next to them and flipping left and right to show off bright orange markings on their sides. Females are most attracted to large males with the brightest, most symmetrical patterns.

The footage revealed the most attractive males flashed both sides of their bodies equally when trying to woo a female. But the less appealing males behaved differently. During the courtship display, the males worked out which side females found most attractive and learned to show only their best side.

The study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and is led by Mart Gross at the University of Toronto, found 25 of 27 less attractive fish showed their best side to waiting females.

Male fish show their best side

[Bent_Bladi]

Just like men on the Internet

[Cheba_Mami]

aha, indeed like all men, you only get to know them if you spend long time with them, cause then the bad side does show up every time.

ehm no offend guys

[Bent_Bladi]

but lucky fish... all they have to do is swim on the other side and see the "lies" .... we have to do full psychoanalysis

[amalgamate]

... and live with them for the rest of our lives

[Bent_Bladi]

not necessarily

[Cheba_Mami]

but usually and then cover it with love... oooh dear