Bitterling Fish Territorial Behavior and Reproductive Success in a Lake Experiment

Carl Smith's dataset from a 2026 figshare release contains experimental data on European bitterling fish. It records how the distance between freshwater mussels, which are critical breeding sites, influences male territorial fights, sperm release, sperm competition, and female spawning frequency. The data shows density-dependent competition reduces male reproductive success.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between resource spacing and aggressive interactions based on experimentally varied mussel distances.
• Analyzing the effect of density on sperm competition intensity based on the described increase in rival sperm presence.
• Investigating the link between male-male competition and female mate choice based on recorded spawning frequency changes.

Strengths

• Data is from a controlled lake experiment where the key variable (mussel distance) was manipulated.
• The dataset is openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0, permitting broad reuse.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is small (92.9 KB), indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

Carl Smith via figshare

Collection Method

Data collected from a lake experiment where mussel spacing was varied.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-28 11:24:25

Geography

Likely a freshwater lake, specific location unknown.