Temporal and sex-specific patterns of breeding territory defense in a color-polymorphic cichlid fish

Sowersby, Will; Lehtonen, Topi K.; Wong, Bob B. M.

doi:10.1007/s10750-016-2889-1

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…In some fish species, both male and female parents perform parental care (e.g., Nakano and Nagoshi, 1990), and one parent can compensate for the limited attention of the other parent (Sowersby et al, 2017). When males of biparental care species die or abandon their partners, females are unable to successfully drive away intruders (Lehtonen et al, 2011;Sowersby et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Care-Providing Cichlid Neolamprologus furcifer Selectively Focuses on High-Threat Carnivorous Intruders, Limiting Attention to Other Threats

2021

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Animals adjust their behaviors based on information from multiple sources; however, the brain can effectively process limited amounts of information. Therefore, attention is restricted to a small portion of environmental stimuli. When animals process multiple information inputs, focusing on information that is deemed important improves detection probability. However, selective focus limits attention to other stimuli and associated behavioral responses. In this study, we examined how Tanganyikan cichlid, Neolamprologus furcifer, mothers selectively attack intruder fishes depending on the threat level and presence or absence of offspring. Species composition is complicated in Lake Tanganyika, and fish density is exceedingly high. Thus, parents must focus on high-threat-level intruders according to their parental care stage. Compared to females without offspring, mothers preferentially attacked carnivorous fishes farther from the nest over closer scale-eating fishes. Moreover, the percentage of females with injuries from scale-eating fish was significantly higher in those caring for offspring than those without offspring, demonstrating the cost of limited attention. Our results show that females focus on the early detection of carnivorous fishes because these predators dart in from long distances to forage eggs, fry, and juveniles, but this selective focus limits the attention placed on low-level threats. This study is the first to document the cost of limited attention in parents guarding offspring.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Care-Providing Cichlid Neolamprologus furcifer Selectively Focuses on High-Threat Carnivorous Intruders, Limiting Attention to Other Threats

2021

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“…Third, parents need to spend time foraging to replenish their energy reserves (Steinhart et al, 2005; Townshend & Wootton, 1985). More importantly, as larvae develop to free‐swim and feed, the scale of parental care is larger and the energetic cost of parental care is greater, which can reduce the probability of future mating, growth and production (Royle et al, 2012; Sowersby et al, 2017). In the early stage of parental care in our experiment, the frequency of attack in females temporarily increased, which was consistent with previous findings (Svare, 1990; Svare & Mann, 1981).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The behavioural pattern and variation in parental care of Aequidens rivulatus

Cai

Wang

et al. 2021

Aquaculture Research

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The study of fish parental care is important for understanding the social structure and improving the survival rate and welfare of fish populations in aquaculture. However, little is known about the parental care of fish at present, especially their attack patterns, behaviour patterns and spatiotemporal statistical characteristics. In this study, Aequidens rivulatus was taken as the research object and the parental care processes were recorded including the attacker, the attackee, and the start and end attack time. Then, the attack pattern, behaviour pattern and their changes over time were further analysed. The results were as follows: (1) no biting occurred most frequently (58%) and had the highest velocity and acceleration during the parental care period compared with lateral biting and frontal biting. (2) Male attacked intruder the most (52%) with the lowest velocity and acceleration, while female attacked male the least (7%) with the highest acceleration. (3) There was a shift in the role of protection of larvae from females to males. This shift occurred approximately 30 h after the first parental care action. These results suggested that A. rivulatus display a high degree of parental care and an obvious pattern of young protection when facing intruder, which is an important consideration when designing breeding and holding facilities.

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“…Biparental care-rare in fishes in general but common in cichlids-raises opportunities for the division of labor and possibilities for sexual conflict. By staging intruder experiments and quantifying male and female defense efforts in Amphilophus labiatus, Sowersby et al (2017) identified sexual differences in defense behavior, which changed over the course of the breeding cycle, and emphasize that both the sex of the parent and the developmental stage of the brood influence parental behavior.…”

Section: American Cichlidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preface: Advances in cichlid research II: behavior, ecology and evolutionary biology

Koblmüller

Albertson

Genner³

et al. 2017

Hydrobiologia

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Temporal and sex-specific patterns of breeding territory defense in a color-polymorphic cichlid fish

Cited by 16 publications

References 67 publications

Maternal Care-Providing Cichlid Neolamprologus furcifer Selectively Focuses on High-Threat Carnivorous Intruders, Limiting Attention to Other Threats

Maternal Care-Providing Cichlid Neolamprologus furcifer Selectively Focuses on High-Threat Carnivorous Intruders, Limiting Attention to Other Threats

The behavioural pattern and variation in parental care of Aequidens rivulatus

Preface: Advances in cichlid research II: behavior, ecology and evolutionary biology

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