The \"Woman in Red\" Effect: pipefish males curb pregnancies at the sight of an attractive female

In an old Gene Wilder movie, an attractive woman dressed in red devastated a man’s current relationship. We have found a similar “Woman in Red” effect in pipefish, a group of fish where pregnancy occurs in males. We tested for the existence of pregnancy blocks in pregnant male black-striped pipefish (Syngnathus abaster). We allowed pregnant males to see females that were larger and even more attractive than their original high-quality mates and monitored the survival and growth of developing offspring. After exposure to these extremely attractive females, males produced smaller offspring in more heterogeneous broods and showed a higher rate of spontaneous offspring abortion. Although we did not observe a full pregnancy block, our results show that males are able to reduce investment in current broods when faced with prospects of a more successful future reproduction with a potentially better mate. This “Woman in Red” life history trade-off between present and future reproduction has sim...