The number of courtship bouts in sexually experienced fish was considerably
lower than in inexperienced fish (262 vs 370 during the spawning
sequence and 211 vs 276 during the spawning period for the experienced
and inexperienced fish, respectively) . The number of courtship
bouts in older fish was almost equal to the number of spawning bouts,
whereas sexually inexperienced fish executed almost twice as many courtship
bouts as spawning bouts during the spawning sequences. Poorer
synchronization of the younger fish appears to be a major factor contributing
to these gross differences.