Trujillo-García, M., H., Klug, E.F., Balart & B.P., Ceballos-Vázquez (2025). Paternal care in the redhead goby, Elacatinus puncticulatus. Journal of Ethology. 1-8. DOI: 10.1007/s10164-025-00837-9.
Miguel Trujillo-García 1, Hope Klug 2, Eduardo Francisco Balart 3 y Bertha Patricia Ceballos-Vázquez 4
Parental care behavior affects parental and offspring fitness. In fish species, parental care is most often provided by the male if some form of care is provided, yet details of parental behavior remain undescribed in many fish species. Parental care was observed under laboratory conditions and formally described for the first time in the redhead goby (Elacatinus puncticulatus). An ethogram was constructed with the behavioral units gathered from video recordings of males caring at their nests. Parental care in the redhead goby was similar to behaviors documented in other gobies and included fanning, guarding, inspection, and rubbing of eggs. In contrast to most other gobies, redhead goby fathers engage in a brief form of post-hatching parental care. Specifically, parental males help larvae leave the nest after hatching. This study is the first to report this behavior in this species, and in general, post-hatching paternal care is relatively rare in fishes. Additionally, we found that guarding and fanning were the most frequent forms of care in the redhead goby, and inspection and larvae release occurred relatively infrequently. Guarding was invariant across days, whereas fanning increased significantly when eggs were closer to hatching.
Palabras clave: Post-hatching paternal care; parental care; courtship; ethogram; Gobiidae; Nest
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