Effects of loss of male parent on brood survival in a biparental cichlid fish

Keenleyside, Miles H. A.; Mackereth, Robert W.

doi:10.1007/bf00002396

Cited by 26 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Mate desertion by male convict cichlids has been documented in experimental ponds and in the field (Keenleyside et al 1990;Keenleyside and Mackereth 1992) and occurred in 7.8% of all broods during this study (unpublished data). When one parent of a biparental species leaves the family, the burden of parental care is increased for the remaining parent (Mrowka 1982;Keenleyside et al 1990).…”

Section: Conditions Benefitting Fry Donorsupporting

confidence: 62%

Intraspecific brood adoption in convict cichlids : a mutual benefit

Wisenden

Keenleyside

1992

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Convict cichlids (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum) are biparental, substrate brooding cichlid fish which have extended care of their eggs, larvae (wrigglers) and free-swimming young (fry). Field observations indicate that intraspecific brood adoption of fry occurs frequently under natural conditions. Of 232 broods 29% contained foreign fry and of 232 broods 15% were identified as fry donors. Foreign fry were usually of similar size to or smaller than the host brood fry. Experimental fry transfers showed that parents accept foreign fry smaller than their own but immediately reject or eat foreign fry larger than their own. A predation experiment showed that within a mixed brood, smaller fry are eaten more often than larger fry. Thus, accepting foreign fry may benefit parents through the dilution effect and through a differential predation effect. In comparison with intact families, broods from which the male parent was removed were less likely to reach independence, had fewer fry surviving to independence, and had a greater probability of having some fry transferred to neighbouring broods. We propose that intraspecific brood adoption in convict cichlids is mutually beneficial to the adult donors and recipients.

show abstract

Section: Conditions Benefitting Fry Donorsupporting

confidence: 62%

Intraspecific brood adoption in convict cichlids : a mutual benefit

Wisenden

Keenleyside

1992

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1). When they first become mobile and freeswimming, cichlid fry are not strong swimmers and are highly vulnerable to predators (Table 1; Nell 1984;Keenleyside and Mackereth 1992). However, as they grow, their swimming abilities increase and they also become more familiar with their surroundings, probably including escape routes (Ribbink et al 1980;Wisenden 1993).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why are larger convict cichlid (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum) fry sometimes adopted into broods of smaller fry?

Fraser

Keenleyside

1995

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Convict cichlids (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum)are substrate-brooding fish, native to Central America, with extended biparental care of young. Parents in the field and laboratory readily adopt foreign young of similar size to or smaller than their own, but usually reject larger foreign young. Under certain circumstances, the adoption of unrelated young has been shown to be adaptive to both donating and foster parents through (1) the dilution effect: the probability that their own young will be captured by a predator is reduced as the brood size increases; and (2) the differential predation effect: smaller young are more easily caught by brood predators than are larger young. These effects are not mutually exclusive. It has been demonstrated that parents of young with a standard length (SL) of 8 mm or bigger reject larger foreign young less often than do parents guarding smaller young, suggesting that the differential predation effect, and interfry aggression, may only be at work at smaller young sizes. In this study relative vulnerability of young to small gape predators (sub-adult conspecifics) decreased with increasing size of young (Fig. 1). When young were most vulnerable to predators (less than 8 mm SL) there was little or no benefit from dilution with larger young. However, as the young grew, the benefit of dilution with larger fry increased (Fig. 2).

show abstract

“…It is possible that a more detailed assessment of older swimming fry would reveal that parent contributions again decline as offspring near independence (Montgomerie and Weatherhead 1988). For example, examination of brood desertion by male convict cichlids have shown that broods can be successfully raised by the lone female, but only when broods are older Keenleyside and Mackereth 1992;Wisenden 1994a). This may indicate that less care is required by the offspring as they near independence, thus allowing males to desert and seek a new mate for a new brood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in biparental care as offspring develop: a field study of convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia)

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Parental investment theory states that parents should contribute more to older offspring. Differences between the sexes also influence how each parent contributes to offspring in biparental species. Here, we examined a naturally occurring population of biparental convict cichlids in Costa Rica to determine how each parent cared for offspring during two distinct offspring development stages. Consistent with the predictions of the reproductive value hypothesis, we hypothesized that the levels of parental contribution would be relative to the value that each parent places on a brood. We predicted that female parents would contribute more than male parents because female convict cichlids have lower future reproductive success than males. Additionally, we predicted that both parents should contribute more to older offspring, either due to the young's increased susceptibility to predation (i.e., the vulnerability hypothesis) or because of the longer period of time parents have been interacting with older offspring (i.e., feedback hypotheses). This increase in investment by males should coincide with a change in the coordination of care between parents. Detailed observations of parental pairs in their natural habitat supported these predictions. Females contributed more to broods than males and were relatively unaffected by offspring age while males spent significantly more time with older, freeswimming fry. Additionally, males tended to leave younger offspring more than females did, and were more likely to do so consecutively with younger offspring. This suggests that the coordination of duties between parents changes as parental investment changes. Overall, these data support both the reproductive value and the vulnerability hypotheses, but not necessarily the feedback hypothesis.

show abstract

Effects of loss of male parent on brood survival in a biparental cichlid fish

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Intraspecific brood adoption in convict cichlids : a mutual benefit

Intraspecific brood adoption in convict cichlids : a mutual benefit

Why are larger convict cichlid (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum) fry sometimes adopted into broods of smaller fry?

Sex differences in biparental care as offspring develop: a field study of convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About