Summary
Parental bagrid catfish in Lake Malawi, Africa, appear to feed their young in a manner analogous to birds and social insects. The female produces eggs which are released and consumed by the catfish young. Indirect evidence suggests that the male leaves the nest to forage and returns with benthic invertebrates in its mouth that are fed to the brood. Such behavior is hypothesized to enhance the growth rate of the young and to reduce their susceptibility to predation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Balon EK (1984) Patterns in the Evolution of Reproductive Styles in Fishes. In: Wooton RJ, Potts CW (eds) Fish Reproduction: Strategies and Tactics, Academic Press, London, pp 35–53
Brown JL (1975) The Evolution of Behavior. Norton WW and Co., New York
Fryer G, Iles TD (1972) Cichlid Fishes of the Great Lakes of Africa. Oliver and Boyd, London
McKaye KR (1981) Death feigning: A unique hunting behavior by the predatory cichlid, Haplochromis livingstoni of Lake Malawi. Environ Biol of Fishes 6:361–365
McKaye KR (1983) Ecology and breeding behavior of a cichlid fish Cyrtocara eucinostomus on a large lek in Lake Malawi, Africa. Environ Biol of Fishes 8:81–96
McKaye KR (1984) Behavioural aspects of cichlid reproductive strategies: Patterns of territoriality and brood defense in Central American substratum spawners versus African mouth brooders. In: Wooton RJ, Potts CW (eds) Fish Reproduction: Strategies and Tactics, Academic Press, London, pp 245–273
McKaye KR (1985) Cichlid-catfish mutualistic defense of young in Lake Malawi, Africa. Oecologia (Berlin) 66:358–363
McKaye KR, Kocher T (1983) Head ramming behavior by three paedophagous cichlids in Lake Malawi, Africa. Animal Behaviour 31:206–210
McKaye KR, Oliver MK (1980) Geometry of a selfish school: Defense of cichlid young by a bagrid catfish in Lake Malawi. Anim Behav 28:1287
Moyle PB, Cech JJ (1982) Fishes: An introduction to ichthyology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Oppenheimer JR (1970) Mouthbrooding in fishes. Anim Behav 18:493–503
Tweddle D (1975) Age and growth of the catfish, Bagrus meridionalis Gunther in southern Lake Malawi. Journal Fish Biology 7:677–685
Welty JC (1982) The Life of Birds. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA
Wilson EO (1971) The Insect Societies. Belknap Presws, Cambridge, Mass
Wourms JP (1981) Viviparity: the maternal-fetal relationship in fish. Am Zool 21:473–515
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McKaye, K.R. Trophic eggs and parental foraging for young by the catfish Bagrus meridionalis of Lake Malawi, Africa. Oecologia 69, 367–369 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377058
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377058