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Alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) have provided valuable insights into how sexual selection and life history tradeoffs can lead to variation within a sex. However, the possibility that tactics may constrain evolution through intralocus tactical conflict (IATC) is rarely considered. In addition, when IATC has been considered, the focus has often been on the genetic correlations between the ARTs, while evidence that the ARTs have different optima for associated traits and that at least one of the tactics is not at its optima is often missing. Here we investigate selection on three traits associated with the ARTs in the swordtail fish Xiphophorus multilineatus; body size, body shape and the sexually selected trait for which these fishes were named, sword length (elongation of the caudal fin). All three traits are tactically dimorphic, with courter males being larger, deeper bodied and having longer swords, and the sneaker males being smaller, more fusiform and having shorter swords. Using measures of reproductive success in a wild population we calculated selection differentials, linear and quadratic gradients, demonstrate that the tactics have different optima and at least one of the tactics is not at its optima for body size and sword length. Our results provide the first evidence of selection in the wild on the sword, an iconic trait for sexual selection. In addition, given the high probability that these traits are genetically correlated to some extent between the two tactics, our study suggests that IATC is constraining both body size and the sword from reaching their phenotypic optima. We discuss the importance of considering the role of IATC in the evolution of tactical dimorphism, how this conflict can be present despite tactical dimorphism, and how it is important to consider this conflict when explaining not only variation within a species but differences across species as well.

Intralocus conflict has been well documented between the sexes, but much less is known about the potential for this genetic conflict in other polymorphisms, such as alternative reproductive tactics. Here we investigate two of three criteria necessary for demonstrating intralocus tactical conflict: the ARTs have different phenotypic optima for a shared trait, and one or both ARTs are not at their phenotypic optima for a shared trait. We address these two criteria in Xiphophorus multilineatus, a live-bearing freshwater fish that has two male alternative reproductive tactics, a behaviorally fixed courter male and a behaviorally plastic sneaker male that switches between courtship and force-copulatory behavior. We used measures of reproductive success from a wild population to estimate selection gradients on three tactically dimorphic traits involved in sexual selection: body size, body shape, and sword length. We present evidence that both body size and sword length are experiencing tactically antagonistic selection, providing evidence for both criteria. Additionally, selection on body shape in sneaker males appears to be buffered due to behavioral plasticity. Our study provides novel insight from a wild population into the role that intralocus tactical conflict can play in constraining ARTs from reaching their respective phenotypic optima despite tactical dimorphism.