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ichthyologist:

Cuckoo Catfish - Mouth Brood Parasites!

Everyone’s familiar with the parasitic behaviour of cuckoo birds. A cuckoo bird will lay its eggs in the nests of other birds and get them to raise their young instead.

The cuckoo catfish (Synodontis multipunctata) exhibits a similar behaviour, except its not as easy as laying eggs in a nest. The catfish come from Lake Tanganyika, which is also home to a number of mouth-brooding cichlids. These fish hide their eggs and fry inside their mouths to protect them from predators.

Cuckoo catfish exploit the excellent parenting of the cichlids and manage to get the mouth brooders to take care of their own young.

The catfish find a pair of spawning cichlids, and start mating themselves. The catfish quickly dart into the cichlid spawn and eat the eggs before the cichlids can collect them in their mouths. During this time, they also release their own eggs. The cichlids will attempt to collect their own eggs, and in the process will also collect the catfish’s eggs.

The unwitting cichlid now has its own eggs, as well as the eggs of the cuckoo catfish brooding inside its mouth. As if that isn’t fair enough, the fry of the catfish will emerge first and eat any remaining cichlid eggs.

By doing this, cuckoo catfish are able to ensure a higher survival rate of their own eggs.

Image: Mario Rubio García on Flickr

(via itscandidlycara)