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Offspring recognition and the influence of clutch size on nest fostering among male sand gobies, Pomatoschistus minutus

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Abstract

When parental care is costly, parents should avoid caring for unrelated young. Therefore, it is an advantage to discriminate between related and unrelated offspring so that parents can make informed decisions about parental care. In the present study, we test the hypothesis that male sand gobies (Pomatoschistus minutus) recognize and differentially care for their own offspring when given a choice between a nest with sired eggs and a second nest with eggs sired by an unrelated male. The sand goby is a species with exclusive and costly paternal care. Male parasitic spawnings (e.g., sneaking) as well as nest takeovers by other males are common. Our results show that nests containing sired eggs were preferred and received significantly more care, as measured by nest building and nest occupancy, than nests with foreign eggs even when males cared for both nests. These findings suggest that males respond to paternity cues and recognize their own clutches. Relative clutch size also had a significant effect on male parental care. When sired clutches were larger than foreign clutches, males preferred to care for their own nest. In the few cases where males chose to take care of foreign nests, the foreign clutch was larger than their own clutch. Taken together, our results provide evidence that both paternity cues and clutch size influence parenting decisions among male sand gobies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Kristina Axelson, and Laila Fröberg with field and husbandry aspects of this project, Malte Andersson, Adam Jones, and Charlotta Kvarnemo for useful discussions and guidance and Mark Hauber, Kai Lindström, Cock van Oosterhout, and three anonymous referees for valuable comments on the manuscript. We would also like to thank the staff at Klubban Biological Station for use of their facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Ola Svensson

  2. Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Maria Lissåker

  3. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Linnaeus Väg 6, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Kenyon B. Mobley

Authors
  1. Ola Svensson
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  2. Maria Lissåker
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  3. Kenyon B. Mobley
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Correspondence to Ola Svensson.

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Communicated by M. Hauber

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Svensson, O., Lissåker, M. & Mobley, K.B. Offspring recognition and the influence of clutch size on nest fostering among male sand gobies, Pomatoschistus minutus . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 1325–1331 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0947-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0947-7

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