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 cannibalis...

诸多动物亲代会投入大量资源以保障子代存活，但部分亲代最终会捕食部分乃至全部自身幼崽。这种被称为亲子相食（filial cannibalism）的现象在众多分类群中均有报道，但其适应性收益仍在很大程度上未明晰。亲代捕食其所抚育的子代的程度不仅在物种间存在显著差异，在个体间亦相去甚远，这表明内在行为差异——即动物个性（animal personality）——或可成为亲子相食的相关近因触发因素。本研究以具备广泛父本抚育行为的海洋鱼类普通虾虎鱼（Pomatoschistus microps）为研究对象，通过以下方式探究动物个性对亲子相食行为的影响：（1）评估个体在繁殖与非繁殖环境下的行为一致性；（2）分析不同繁殖行为（扇卵行为、亲子相食）与非繁殖行为（活动水平）间的相关性；此外，在另一项独立实验中（3）探究预先测定的个性得分是否会影响亲子相食……