Experience Matters: Females Use Smell to Select Experienced Males for Paternal Care

Mate choice and mating preferences often rely on the information content of signals exchanged between potential partners. In species where a female's reproduction is the terminal event in life it is to be expected that females choose high quality males and assess males using some honest indicator of male quality. The Nereidid polychaete, Neanthes acuminata, exhibits monogamous pairing and the release of eggs by females terminates her life and larval success relies entirely on a male's ability to provide paternal care. As such females should have developed reliable, condition-dependent criteria to choose mates to guarantee survival and care for offspring. We show that females actively chose males experienced in fatherhood over others. In the absence of experienced males dominance, as evident from male-male fights, is utilized for mate selection. The preference for experienced males is not affected by previous social interactions between the individuals. We show that the choice of the partner is based on chemical signals demonstrating a ‘scent of experience’ to females providing evidence for the role of chemical signals in sexual selection for paternal care adding to our understanding of the mechanisms regulating condition-dependent mate choice.