The intention generator of a pacifist differs from that of a prey in
that intention mate is enabled and the intentions escape
and school are disabled. Piscatorial mating behaviors show
great interspecies and intra-species diversity [Thresher1984].
However, two behaviors are prevalent: (i) nuzzling, where typically
the male approaches the female from underneath and nudges her abdomen
repeatedly until she is ready to spawn, and (ii) spawning ascent,
where in its simplest form, the female rapidly swims towards the
surface pursued by the male and releases gametes at the peak of her
ascent. Moreover, courtship dancing is common in many species, albeit
with substantial variation. Two frequently observed patterns are
looping, in which the male swims vigorously up and down in a loop
slightly above and in front of the female, and circling, in which the
male and female circle, seemingly chasing each other's tail.
Fig. 
shows photographs of natural fish displaying
various mating behaviors [Thresher1984].
The complex mating rituals observed in the majority of animals are
composed of a sequence of sub-behaviors (e.g. courting, spawning
ascent) performed in a unique order. This is referred to as fixed
action patterns by ethologists [Tinbergen1951]. We have
implemented a mating behavior routine which simulates courtship
looping, circling, spawning ascent, and nuzzling in sequence (see
Fig. and Fig. (a)-(f)). This sequence
is represented as a finite-state machine where each state is linked
with a component behavior and has a boolean transition function. The
transition function evaluates the associated behavior to see if it is
completed, if positive, a transition is performed and the next
component behavior is activated.
A male fish selects a mating partner based on the following criteria: A female of the same species is more attractive than one of different species, and closer females are more attractive than ones further away. A female selects a partner similarly, but shows preference to male fish size (stronger, more protective) rather than proximity. Suppose some fish i has selected a potential partner j then one of three things may happen:
shows two examples where two male poker fish
vying for the attention of a female by performing elaborate looping
behavior.
The male looping behavior is simulated by invoking chasing-target, with the `target' being a point in front of the female's head which moves up and down at a certain frequency. When the number of times that the male reaches the moving point exceeds a certain threshold he makes a transition from looping to circling behavior. Although the threshold is fixed, in practice the actual motions and duration of looping is highly unpredictable due to any number of reasons, such as looping being temporarily suspended to avoid a collision. If a new larger male joins in the looping display before the transition to circling, then the female may reject her initial partner and turn to the new fish. The rejected male will then turn away as described in the second case, above.
The circling behavior is implemented using chasing-target, where the target is the other fishes tail and is completed after the female has made a fixed number of turns. Next the spawning ascending routine is invoked whereby the female fish ascends quickly upwards and then hovers. She is followed by the male who uses chasing-target to follow her abdomen. In the nuzzling behavior routine, the male approaches her abdomen from below until he successfully touches it with his mouth. He then retreats, waits, and repeats the process. For such close contact to occur both fish's collision sensitivity region is set very close to their bodies.
Figure: Two males (larger) vying for the attention of a female.
| Xiaoyuan Tu | January 1996 |
