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The tale of the bad stepfather: male three‐spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. recognize foreign eggs in their manipulated nest by egg cues alone
Author(s) -
Frommen J. G.,
Brendler C.,
Bakker T. C. M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2007.01390.x
Subject(s) - gasterosteus , biology , nest (protein structural motif) , zoology , brood , paternal care , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , offspring , pregnancy , biochemistry , genetics
The ability to discriminate between own and foreign eggs was investigated in brood‐caring male three‐spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus . Males totally cannibalized clutches that contained both foreign and their own eggs significantly more often than sham‐manipulated control clutches that only contained their own eggs. These results show that caring males are able to recognize the presence of foreign eggs by egg cues alone.