Handsome means less virile?

A friend once told me that there is no such person who can look good in a photo, film and on-television. No one. And this bit of news seems to remind me of it.

Called the Million Fish the Guppy of Poecillia reticulata probably belongs to a group of fishes popular among aquarium keepers. It is called the Million Fish due to its ability to breed fast and frequently.

One of the more interesting things about this fish well fishes in general is the strategy they employ in sex: mating: reproducing. For fishes the most visible strategy is visual.

For examples in guppies – the male which is smaller than the female is the more colorful one. And it long been believed that the more ornamentation or more decorative the tail of the male is the better chances to attract the female. And from there engage in a mating dance that will culminate in the depositing of the sperm in the female.

From
The Video on Youtube
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Now a study has shown that in Guppies the more flamboyant the male the quality of its sperm goes down: the less attractive males have better sperms. The research was mentioned in the BBC and further studies made by Professor Jonathan Evans, who works at the Centre for Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia, can be seen here.

Evans said that his findings supported the “sperm competition theory”, which says that:

… females mate with several males and the quality and swimming speed of the sperm determine which male fathers the offspring (SOURCE)

Apparently Guppies have two ways of mating: First, the one most aquarium keepers are familiar with is through courtship display: ie using and flashing their ornamental/beautiful fins; and Second, the non-con sexual or sneak mating aka Wang Bang Thank You Ma’am.

And it is a suggested that based on this study there is a trade-off between the more handsome males and the more homely males in terms of sperm or ejaculates during competition.

So looks is not truly everything.