Cuckoo whiskered catfish
As synodontis multipunctatus are two African catfish species which have in the East African Lake Tanganyika occur. They are the only fish known to have brood parasitism . The name is derived from the cuckoo , which is a well-known brood parasite.
The cuckoo's whiskered catfish are the only known breeding parasites among the fish, they are obligatory breeding parasites, i. i.e., they are unable to raise their own brood. They use mouth-brooding cichlids (such as Ctenochromis horei or Simochromis diagramma ) as hosts.
Two types
- Synodontis grandiops Wright & Page, 2006 (bigeye cuckoo whiskered catfish)
- Synodontis multipunctatus Boulenger, 1898 (multi-point cuckoo whiskered catfish)
For a long time it was assumed that S. multipunctatus was the only species with this reproductive biology, until a second, very similar species was scientifically described with S. grandiops in 2006. It has now also been discovered that it was this species that carried out brood parasitism and was previously only known under a false name. In the meantime, however, it has also been found that S. multipunctatus is actually a breeding parasite.
Reproductive biology
Other whiskered catfish species have already been observed to eat their eggs from mouthbrooders during the spawning business. The cuckoo whiskered catfish eat cichlid eggs when they are inseminated, give up their own and inseminate them. All eggs are ingested by the female mouthbrooder. How the cuckoo's whiskered catfish manage to synchronize their spawning activity so precisely with that of the cichlids has not yet been sufficiently investigated.
The young catfish hatch earlier than the cichlids and use their eggs as their first food. But it also happens that they eat each other as larvae in the host's mouth, so that ultimately only one young animal remains.
distribution
Cuckoo whiskers are only found in Lake Tanganyika in East Africa.
Breeding Instructions
It could be that some species of cichlid from Lake Tanganyika learned during evolution that the cuckoo catfish pose a threat to their brood. Tropheus species in particular react extremely aggressively to the catfish when they try to disrupt the spawning business. With other mouthbrooders, e.g. B. Malawi or Lake Victoria cichlids, however, the animals can be reproduced well in the aquarium. These cichlids drive the catfish a little less vehemently. But it also works with Lake Tanganyika cichlids such as Haplochromis horei .
swell
Schraml, E. (2003): Fiederbartwelse from Lake Tanganyika. DATZ , 56 (8): 60-65.
- ↑ a b c Cacia Steensen: Evolutionary Trickery: Brood Parasitism in Synodontis multipunctatus. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Thesis, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, April 1, 2011.
- ^ Wright, JJ & LM Page (2006): Taxonomic revision of Lake Tanganyikan Synodontis (Siluriformes: Mochokidae). Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History , 46 (4): 99-154.
- ↑ Schraml, E. (2009): Zum Kuckuck - Fiederbartwelse. News about whiskered catfish from Lake Tanganyika. aquaristics , 17 (5): 70-73.
