Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: Jan 01, 2000

Allopaternal Care in the Pygmy Sculpin (Cottus pygmaeus)

Page Range: 262 – 264
DOI: 10.1643/0045-8511(2000)2000[0262:ACITPS]2.0.CO;2
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Abstract

Male Pygmy Sculpins (Cottus pygmaeus) were found to abandon nests that contained clutches of eggs, presumably establishing new nests elsewhere. These abandoned nests were readily occupied by new males (allopaternal males) that continued paternal care of existing clutches and usually acquired new clutches. Significantly more eggs were lost to cannibalism when new males acquired nests than when the original males stayed with their own brood. The size of males that abandoned nests did not differ from that of allopaternal males. Female preference for males with nests that already contain eggs may be the selective force for the occurrence of allopaternal care in this species.

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Copyright: The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.

Average (± SD) number of clutches in new nests of Cottus pygmaeus detected per sampling trip, May to September 1999 in Coldwater Spring, Alabama


Accepted: Jul 02, 1999