scholarly journals Female–female conflict is higher during periods of parental care in a group-living cichlid fish

2021 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 91-105
Author(s):  
Aneesh P.H. Bose ◽  
Paul Nührenberg ◽  
Alex Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living

scholarly journals A test of male infanticide as a reproductive tactic in a cichlid fish

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 160891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shagun Jindal ◽  
Aneesh P. H. Bose ◽  
Constance M. O'Connor ◽  
Sigal Balshine
Keyword(s):  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Laboratory Setting ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Egg Cannibalism ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Dominant Individual ◽  
Living Species ◽  
Reproductive Tactic ◽  
Relative Body Size

Infanticide and offspring cannibalism are taxonomically widespread phenomena. In some group-living species, a new dominant individual taking over a group can benefit from infanticide if doing so induces potential mates to become reproductively available sooner. Despite widespread observations of infanticide (i.e. egg cannibalism) among fishes, no study has investigated whether egg cannibalism occurs in fishes as a result of group takeovers, or how this type of cannibalism might be adaptive. Using the cooperatively breeding cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher , we tested whether new unrelated males entering the dominant position in a social group were more likely to cannibalize eggs, and whether such cannibalism would shorten the interval until the female's next spawning. Females spawned again sooner if their broods were removed than if they were cared for. Egg cannibalism occurred frequently after a group takeover event, and was rarer if the original male remained with the group. While dominant breeder females were initially highly aggressive towards newcomer males that took over the group, the degree of resistance depended on relative body size differences between the new pair and, ultimately, female aggression did not prevent egg cannibalism. Egg cannibalism, however, did not shorten the duration until subsequent spawning, or increase fecundity during subsequent breeding in our laboratory setting. Our results show that infanticide as mediated through group takeovers is a taxonomically widespread behaviour.

scholarly journals Galanin neuron activation in feeding, parental care, and infanticide in a mouthbrooding African cichlid fish

2020 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 104870
Author(s):  
Julie M. Butler ◽  
Erandi M. Herath ◽  
Arohan Rimal ◽  
Sarah M. Whitlow ◽  
Karen P. Maruska
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
African Cichlid ◽  
Neuron Activation

Variation in the Mating System of a Biparental Cichlid Fish, Cichlasoma Panamense

Behaviour ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 95 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 181-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.J. Wootton ◽  
T.J. Townshend
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Attack Rate ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Time Away ◽  
A Current

AbstractCichlasoma panamense is a biparental, substrate-spawning cichlid which breeds during the dry season in Panamanian streams. In one population some males helped to defend their offspring throughout the period of parental care but many deserted their mates to achieve additional spawnings leaving females to guard alone. The proportion of C. panamense guarding in pairs increased throughout the breeding season. This was associated with an increase in the rate with which parental cichlids attacked potential brood predators and an increase in brood size. The increase in attack rate was due to the crowding of fishes as water levels receded during the dry season and especially to the increasing numbers of newly independent cichlids which congregated in the shallow water areas where C. panamense brood. The sex ratio in the population was strongly biased towards females. Males spent more time away from the brood than females which enabled them to find and spawn with unmated females. The attack rate of females brooding alone was not significantly higher than that of those with mates and their foraging rate not significantly lower although they spent less time away from their brood. In a more productive stream where population density was high, breeding was almost entirely in monogamous pairs. The rate at which parents attacked potential predators was higher, the sex ratio was 1:1 and brood size was large. The male's decision to guard or desert appears to depend on his opportunities for further matings, the ability of the female to guard alone and the value of a current brood. These results agree with the predictions of game theory models of parental care.

Strategic and tactical fighting decisions in cichlid fishes with divergent social systems

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Hick ◽  
Adam R. Reddon ◽  
Constance M. O’Connor ◽  
Sigal Balshine
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Hierarchy Formation ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Contest Behaviour

The costs and benefits of engaging in a contest will differ depending on the social situation of the individuals involved. Therefore, understanding contest behaviour can help to elucidate the trade-offs of living in differing social systems and shed light on the evolution of social behaviour. In the current study, we compared contest behaviour in two closely related species of Lamprologine cichlid fish. Neolamprologus pulcher and Telmatochromis temporalis are both pair-breeding cichlids, but N. pulcher are highly social, group-living fish, while T. temporalis display no grouping behaviour. To examine how competition varies by species, sex and familiarity, we staged same-sex conspecific contests over a shelter, a resource that is highly valued by both species, where contestants were either familiar or unfamiliar to one another. When we examined tactical and strategic components of these contests, we found that the highly social species had shorter contests and engaged in fewer costly aggressive acts than did the non-social species. Individuals of the highly social species were also more likely to resolve conflicts through the use of submissive displays, while individuals of the non-social species were more likely to flee from conflict. Familiarity increased the use of submissive displays in the highly social species but not in the less social species. Our findings suggest that conflict resolution behaviour and dominance hierarchy formation are fundamentally linked to the evolution of complex social systems.

scholarly journals Parental care and neuropeptide dynamics in a cichlid fish Neolamprologus caudopunctatus

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 104576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filipa Cunha-Saraiva ◽  
Sigal Balshine ◽  
Magdalena Gozdowska ◽  
Ewa Kulczykowska ◽  
Richard H. Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Cichlid Fish

scholarly journals Facial Recognition in a Group-Living Cichlid Fish

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e0142552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Kohda ◽  
Lyndon Alexander Jordan ◽  
Takashi Hotta ◽  
Naoya Kosaka ◽  
Kenji Karino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Facial Recognition ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living

scholarly journals Reproduction and maternal care increase oxidative stress in a mouthbrooding cichlid fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1662-1671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Sawecki ◽  
Emily Miros ◽  
Shana E Border ◽  
Peter D Dijkstra
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Reproductive Cycle ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Reactive Oxygen ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Reactive Oxygen Metabolites ◽  
Costs Of Reproduction ◽  
And Oxidative Stress

Abstract Investment in reproduction and postzygotic parental care is an energetically costly yet fundamental aspect of the life-history strategies in many species. Recently, oxidative stress has received attention as a potential mediator in the trade-off between reproduction, growth, and survival. During activities that increase metabolic activity, such as providing offspring care, an overproduction of reactive oxygen species can occur that cannot be counteracted by antioxidants, leading to oxidative stress and tissue damage. Here, we investigated the oxidative costs of reproduction and maternal care over the course of the reproductive cycle in a mouthbrooding cichlid fish within socially stable and unstable environments. We manipulated social stability by disrupting the habitat in socially unstable tanks. We expected to see an increase in the burden of maternal care within unstable environments due to increased male harassment of females as a byproduct of increased male–male aggression. We found that brooding females have higher levels of oxidative stress than nonbrooding females and oxidative stress fluctuates throughout the reproductive cycle. These fluctuations were driven by a spike in reactive oxygen metabolites at the beginning of brood care followed by an increase in antioxidant defense. Surprisingly, the link between reproduction and oxidative stress was not different between females from stable or unstable environments. Our study illustrates a more complete picture of the physiological costs of reproduction and parental care throughout different stages of care rather than a simplistic end-point observation of how reproduction and parental care affect an individual.

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