Data from: Inbreeding and competitor’s genetic relatedness affect dynamic male color-ornament expression in a cichlid fish

We examined the dynamic color-expression in male groups of the cichlid
Pelvicachromis taeniatus during competition over breeding sites. Groups
(trios) were either inbred or outbred and consisted each of 2 unfamiliar
brothers and an unfamiliar, unrelated male. Males of P. taeniatus are
territorial and develop a carotenoid-based yellow coloration at the
ventral body region and the caudal fin. Intense body coloration signals
dominance. Our study showed i) that outbred males generally developed more
intense yellow coloration (chromaticity) during the experiment compared to
inbred males and ii) that related males were more intensively colored at
the caudal fin after the trials than the unrelated males. In conclusion,
our study indicates environment-dependent inbreeding depression in a male
ornament as well as positive kin-selected effects on ornamentexpression.
Our study describes understudied sources of phenotypic variation in
ornamental traits in animals.