摘要Although the majority of studies on mate choice focus on female mate choice,there is growing recognition of the role of male mate choice too.Male mate choice is tightly linked to 2 other phenomena:female competition for males and ornamentation in females.In the current article,I review the existing literature on this in a group of fishes,Poeciliidae.In this group,male mate choice appears to be based on differences in female quality,especially female size,which is a proxy for fecundity.Some males also have to choose between heterospecific and conspecific females in the unusual mating system of the Amazon molly.In this case,they typically show a preference for conspecific females.Whereas male mate choice is relatively well documented for this family,female ornamentation and female competition are not.