Siren intermedia....fighting!

[paris]

as many of you know i have had my colony for about 2 years now. never before have i seen the bites that i have just found today. i have seen the occasional amputation from feeding eagerness-but these bites are on the body only-and some are pretty deep-having taken chunks of flesh with them. i can get pics up later.... i know biting is supposed to be a sign of breeding intent, but does it get serious to the point of 'chunks'? 2 of them are showing signs of mollestation-one is serious enough that i have isolated it.

 

[kyle]

There is no way I can say anything from experience or give an opinion on how bad the biting can get, but I would imagine in an enclosed area, without any real way to swim away, this could become a problem.

The biting may indeed be triggered by gamete production in the male, but if the female is not receptive, the male will continue to 'court' a female until his drive to mate has passed. Since the other sirens have no way of swimming away when not receptive, he (or she even) will continue the behavior repeatedly. Keeping them appart from each other is probably a better idea if the biting ritual seems to be taken too far. Common sense tells me that if this is all induced by breeding, the biting would cease shortly after fertilization has taken place. So if biting continues, then fertilization probably isn't going to happen.

 

[edward]

Biting in S. intermedia at that level can indicate that the males are in breeding condition. The problem is that they will bite other males as well as the females. At this time it isn't known if this is only part of a territorial response due to being in breeding condition or if it is also part of the courtship ritual.

As Kyle pointed out, if it is getting really bad I would seperate the animals..

Ed