Researchers identify a pheromone in the urine of male tilapia fish that stimulates spawning in females
The exchange of chemical signals between organisms is considered the oldest form of communication. Acting as messenger molecules, pheromones regulate social interactions between conspecifics, for example, the sexual attraction between males and females. Fish rely on pheromones to trigger social responses and to coordinate reproductive behavior in males and females. Scientists at the Marine Science Center at the University of the Algarve in Faro, Portugal, and at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have now identified such a signal molecule in the urine of male Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus): this pheromone boosts hormone production and accelerates oocyte maturation in reproductive females. Hence, the Mozambique tilapia is one of the first fish species in which the chemical structure of a pheromone has been identified and the biological basis of its activity elucidated.