Authors: Eric Morris
Mentors: Jerry Johnson
Insitution: Brigham Young University
Black Spot Disease (BSD) is a parasitic infection that occurs when trematode parasites burrow into the skin of a fish and form a cyst. The infected fish releases black pigment around the cyst creating a visible black spot. Fishes can have different levels of infection ranging from a few cysts located on their skin to an entire body speckled with these markings. Parasitic diseases typically come with a cost to the host species. Little research has been conducted examining the cost of such diseases in the placental live-bearing fish Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora. My study examines the influence of BSD on female association preferences by providing female Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora dichotomous choices between males who appear to be healthy, slightly infected, moderately infected, and highly infected. The different levels of infection in the males are simulated by ink tattooing.