Convict cichlid parents that stay with the same mate develop unique and consistent divisions of roles

Abstract

Previous studies, largely on avian species, have suggested that pairs that are permanently monogamous and have biparental care develop a coordination over time that enhances offspring survival. If this is the case, we predicted that a parent involved in biparental care would develop a pattern of biparental care specific to a particular mate and remain consistent in that pattern over time but would lose this pattern if it were to change mates. We tested this prediction with the convict cichlid fish (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) which has biparental care that is both complex and flexible. In this species, each parent can perform all parental roles but typically shows a division of labor in which males typically defend against offspring predators while the female typically provides direct care to the offspring. At various times, the parents briefly switch roles. Our experiments revealed that pairs that remained together for two consecutive broods were more consistent in their parental behaviors, including time they spent near the intruder and in the nest compared to pairs that were comprised of individuals that had previously mated with other partners. Also individuals that remained with the same partner were also more consistent as a parental unit, maintaining their sex-specific roles of males defending aggressively against an intruder and females spending more time directly caring for young. While our experiment clearly support our prediction that individuals do develop unique coordination with specific individuals, convict cichlids in nature appear to be largely serially monogamous in which they mate only once before changing partners. Thus, it is likely this coordination may be available in many species that have biparental care but become adaptive when repeated matings become common.

Different ways of evolving tool-using brains in teleosts and amniotes

“…Remarkably complex behaviors (tool use in the case of C. anchorago and T. hardwicke (Bernardi, 2012; Paśko, 2010), and social cognition in the case of L. dimidiatus (Kohda et al, 2022; McAuliffe et al, 2021; Wismer et al, 2016)) have been reported in the group of wrasses. Cichlids are phylogenetically close to wrasses and display relatively complex social and cognitive behaviors, although no instances of tool use have been observed (Barks and Godin, 2013; Hotta et al, 2019; Schluessel et al, 2022; Snekser and Itzkowitz, 2020). By contrast, no such behaviors have been reported in the “outgroup” species.…”

Sex Differences in How Territory Quality Affects Aggression in Convict Cichlids

“…In this experiment, the intrasexual contests occurred outside of a pair-bonding and reproductive context, in so far as a potential partner was not present for the contest. Therefore, the differences in aggression should not have been directly impacted by the biparental division of labor seen in this species ( Itzkowitz et al 2001 , 2002 ; Snekser and Itzkowitz 2020 ) or direct competition for potential mates ( Bloch et al 2016 ). This then begs two specific questions: (1) Why were females generally more aggressive than males?…”

The behavioural pattern and variation in parental care of Aequidens rivulatus

“…Females generally swam near the larvae, while males swam away from the larvae towards the safe nest area (the swimming range of the larvae). This phenomenon indicates that in parental relationships, males usually fight the predator, while females usually take care of their offspring directly (Snekser & Itzkowitz, 2009, 2020).…”