Cuckoldry Incites Cannibalism: Male Fish Turn to Cannibalism When Perceived Certainty of Paternity Decreases

Perceived certainty of paternity is expected to influence a male’s behavior toward his offspring: if he is uncertain of his reproductive success with a current brood due to the presence of cuckolders, it may benefit him to invest instead in future reproduction. A decrease in perceived certainty of p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2007-02, Vol.169 (2), p.258-263
Main Authors: Gray, Suzanne M., Dill, Lawrence M., McKinnon, Jeffrey S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal cannibalism
Animal reproduction
Animals
Biological Evolution
Cannibalism
Eggs
Female animals
Fish
Fishes
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Natural History Miscellany
Ova
Reproduction
Reproductive success
Sneakers
Stomach
Sunfish
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Summary:Perceived certainty of paternity is expected to influence a male’s behavior toward his offspring: if he is uncertain of his reproductive success with a current brood due to the presence of cuckolders, it may benefit him to invest instead in future reproduction. A decrease in perceived certainty of paternity incites filial cannibalism (the eating of one’s own offspring) in some teleost fishes that provide parental care; however, no work has demonstrated that cannibalism increases proportionately with increased levels of cuckoldry. Here we show for the first time in a fish with no parental care that as the number of cuckolders at a spawning event increases, so does the probability that a male will cannibalize eggs. In field observations ofTelmatherina sarasinorum, a small fish endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia, males increased filial cannibalism behavior threefold in the presence of one cuckolder and nearly sixfold in the presence of two or more cuckolders. This suggests that males may use detection of cuckolders as an indication that the paternity of current offspring has been compromised.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/510604