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How NZ’s wide-bodied pipefish confounds expectations

08 January 2024

If you’ve ever watched a natural history programme on TV, you’ve probably seen animals performing a wide variety of behaviours to get the attention of the opposite sex. 

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Senior Lecturer Sarah Flanagan and her team have found a surprising courtship between female and male wide-bodied pipefish. Dr Flanagan's research reveals that the male pipefish is the one to initiate courtship displays using comical wiggles. This is unexpected, as the female pipefish has brightly-coloured stripes and normally the sex with more ornamentation in a species leads the courtship display. 

Read more on The Conversation

Disclosure statement

Sarah Flanagan receives funding from the Brian Mason Scientific Trust and the Marsden Fund. 


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