Data from: You eat what you are: personality-dependent filial cannibalism in a fish with paternal care

Many animal parents invest heavily to ensure offspring survival, yet some
eventually consume some or all of their very own young. This so-called
filial cannibalism is known from a wide range of taxa, but its adaptive
benefit remains largely unclear. The extent to which parents cannibalize
their broods varies substantially not only between species, but also
between individuals, indicating that intrinsic behavioral differences, or
animal personalities, might constitute a relevant proximate trigger for
filial cannibalism. Using a marine fish with extensive paternal care, the
common goby (Pomatoschistus microps), we investigated the influence of
animal personality on filial cannibalism by assessing (1) behavioral
consistency across a breeding and a nonbreeding context; (2) correlations
between different breeding (egg fanning; filial cannibalism) and
nonbreeding (activity) behaviors, and, in a separate experiment; (3)
whether previously established personality scores affect filial
cannibalism levels. We found consistent individual differences in activity
across contexts. Partial filial cannibalism was independent of egg fanning
but correlated strongly with activity, where active males cannibalized
more eggs than less active males. This pattern was strong initially but
vanished as the breeding season progressed. The incidence of whole clutch
filial cannibalism increased with activity and clutch size. Our findings
indicate that filial cannibalism cannot generally be adjusted
independently of male personality and is thus phenotypically less plastic
than typically assumed. The present work stresses the multidimensional
interaction between animal personality, individual plasticity and the
environment in shaping filial cannibalism.