Egg cannibalism by sticklebacks: spite or selfishness?

FitzGerald, Gérard J.

doi:10.1007/bf00166704

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Harmful male functions, like harassment, toxic seminal fluids, or infanticide, could provide such a competitive advantage if they affected parthenogenetic females worse than sexual ones. Most of the species in which harmful male behaviour has been studied lack parthenogenetic forms (FitzGerald 1992, Gadagkar 1993, Crudington and Siva‐Jothy 2000, Dobson et al 2000). This begs the question why males should be harmful to females in the first place?…”

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confidence: 99%

Could sex be maintained through harmful males?

Dagg¹

2006

Oikos

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All else being equal, parthenogenetic females should produce as many surviving daughters as sexual couples produce daughters plus sons. Hence the resources spent on producing sons are a cost of sex and parthenogenetic females economize on sons. It has recently been shown that a small competitive advantage of sexual individuals can recoup this large reproductive disadvantage, while the adaptation behind the competitive advantage might differ from case to case. One hypothesis that has not yet been considered as a potential competitive advantage is that males could differentially harm parthenogenetic females, for example, through harassment, toxic seminal fluids, or infanticide. Harmful male functions result from the selection for males that maximise their fitness at the expense of females in the context of sexual conflict. Unless parthenogenetic lineages can maintain their resistance against harmful male functions, a competitive advantage for sex should be a by‐product benefit of sexual conflict. Mutations that make males harm parthenogenetic females worse than sexual ones, however, can be seen as evolutionary spite. The spiteful trait is not the production of costly sons, but the production of males that discriminate against parthenogenetic females. Spiteful behaviour can be positively selected, if it acts against negatively related victims. Sexual and parthenogenetic individuals within a population should usually be negatively related, because the genomes of the sexual individuals are bound together by recombination while those of parthenogenetic individuals will be identical except for divergence through mutation. Some unusual cases of parthenogenesis are discussed in the light of this new hypothesis and an experimental approach for testing it is suggested.

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confidence: 99%

Could sex be maintained through harmful males?

Dagg¹

2006

Oikos

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“…Furthermore, filial cannibalism occurs frequently (e.g. Van den Assem 1967;Belles-Isles & FitzGerald 1991;FitzGerald 1992;Frommen et al 2007;Mehlis et al 2009) and is more common late in the breeding season (Belles-Isles & FitzGerald 1991). In general, parental care is energetically costly (Smith & Wootton 1999) with more developed eggs needing more oxygen and, thus, care (Collins & Nelson 1993;Kamler et al 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To eat or not to eat: egg-based assessment of paternity triggers fine-tuned decisions about filial cannibalism

et al. 2010

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Filial cannibalism occurs in many animal species ranging from insects to mammals, and is especially well described in teleost fishes. Numerous causes may lead to this behaviour, e.g. certainty of paternity. However, the cues males use to assess their paternity often remain unknown. One possible way to differentiate between own and foreign offspring is by using egg cues. Nevertheless, in egg-laying species, evidence for this is still scarce. In this study, male three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a fish with paternal care in which sneaking as well as filial cannibalism is common, were allowed to care for manipulated nests that contained different percentages of own fertilized eggs. After 7 days, embryo survival was determined. Furthermore, brood-caring as well as aggressive behaviour was measured daily. Clutches containing a higher proportion of foreign eggs were more likely to be completely cannibalized than clutches containing a lower proportion of foreign eggs, particularly when the clutch was laid early in the breeding season. However, the behavioural observations revealed no influence of paternity. The results show that paternity triggers filial cannibalism in sticklebacks and that males are able to evaluate their paternity using egg cues alone.

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“…There are various animals that are oophagous (feed on eggs), a behaviour that is in most reported cases facultative (e.g. Randall, 1967;Shiogaki & Dotsu, 1983;Whoriskey & FitzGerald, 1985;Daan, 1987;FitzGerald, 1992;Bloxam et al, 1996;Shine et al, 2004;Hirayama et al, 2005;Järnegren et al, 2005;Light et al, 2005;Mehlis & Bakker, 2009). In East African cichlid fish radiations, spectacular trophic behaviours like head-ramming and snout-engulfing allow some species specialising on eggs or fry of heterospecific fishes (Wilhelm, 1980;Ribbink & Lewis, 1981;McKaye & Kocher, 1983;McKaye & van den Berghe, 1997;Ribbink & Ribbink, 1997;Ochi et al, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Alternative egg-feeding tactics in Telmatherina sarasinorum, a trophic specialist of Lake Matano’s evolving sailfin silversides fish radiation

et al. 2012

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Feeding specialisation is a typical feature of adaptive animal radiations. Different kinds of feeding specialisations have evolved in the endemic sailfin silversides species flock in Lake Matano (Central Sulawesi, Indonesia), including egg-feeding. The present study focuses on Telmatherina sarasinorum, a sailfin silverside species feeding on the eggs of related Telmatherina antoniae. Stomach content analyses supported T. antoniae eggs to be the dominant food item, independent of daytime. We hypothesized that the egg-feeders use alternative tactics for maximising egg consumption under varying densities of both, spawning T. antoniae pairs and competing conspecific egg-feeders. Focal behavioural observations were applied to describe different feeding tactics and to analyse feeding success and the related costs in terms of competitive interactions. Egg-feeders followed single courting pairs of T. antoniae or, alternatively, they switched between different spawning pairs. Following-behaviour, covering one or more spawning events of the host species, was positively related to enhanced egg consumption. Compared to feeding by switching frequently among different spawning pairs, the following tactic came at the cost of likewise increased competition. Behavioural observations suggest that some males monopolize courting pairs of T. antoniae and gain increased amounts of eggs compared to others avoiding competition by switching among pairs. The present results confirm that egg-feeding is a distinct trophic specialisation in T. sarasinorum and increase the scale of behavioural specialisation in Lake Matano's evolving Telmatherina radiation.

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Egg cannibalism by sticklebacks: spite or selfishness?

Cited by 17 publications

References 27 publications

Could sex be maintained through harmful males?

Could sex be maintained through harmful males?

To eat or not to eat: egg-based assessment of paternity triggers fine-tuned decisions about filial cannibalism

Alternative egg-feeding tactics in Telmatherina sarasinorum, a trophic specialist of Lake Matano’s evolving sailfin silversides fish radiation

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