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Teresacurl (talk | contribs) Changing short description from "Type of care for offsprings" to "Animal that cares for its offspring by holding them its mouth" |
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{{Short description|Animal that cares for its offspring by holding them its mouth}}
[[Image:Cyphotilapia frontosa mouthbrooding.jpg|thumb|right|190px|A female ''[[Cyphotilapia frontosa]]'' mouthbrooding [[juvenile fish|fry]] which can be seen looking out from her mouth]]
'''Mouthbrooding''', also known as '''oral incubation''' and '''buccal incubation''', is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a variety of different animals,
==Mouthbrooding behaviour==
Paternal mouthbrooders are species where the male looks after the eggs. Paternal mouthbrooders include the [[arowana]],
In the case of the maternal mouthbrooders, the female takes the eggs. Maternal mouthbrooders are found among both African and South American cichlids. African examples are the [[haplochromines]], such as the [[mbuna]], ''[[Astatotilapia burtoni]]'', and the dwarf mouthbrooders ''Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor'', and some of the tilapiines, such as ''[[Oreochromis mossambicus]]'' and ''[[Oreochromis niloticus]]''. The South American maternal mouthbrooders are all members of the subfamily [[Geophaginae]]
Biparental mouthbrooding occurs where both parents take some of the eggs. This is relatively rare, but is found among the cichlid genus ''[[Xenotilapia]]'', and a single catfish, the [[spatula-barbled catfish]] (''Phyllonemus typus'').
Typically, after courtship, the male [[Fertilisation|fertilises]] the eggs and then collects them in his mouth, holding onto them until they hatch. During this time he cannot feed. Among the maternal mouthbrooding cichlids, it is quite common (e.g., among the mbuna) for the male to fertilise the eggs only once they are in the female's mouth. Some cichlids are able to feed while mouthbrooding the eggs, but invariably they feed less often than they would otherwise do, and after mouthbrooding one batch of eggs, all mouthbrooding fish
In all cases, the eggs are protected until they hatch and the fry become free swimming. Only in some cases does the parent extend protection to mobile juveniles. Among the cichlids and arowanas, extension of brood care to the fry is common, and they have behavioural cues to tell fry swimming and feeding away from the parent that danger is approaching and that they should return to their parent's mouth. By caring for their offspring in this way, mouthbrooding fish are able to produce smaller numbers of offspring with a higher chance of survival than species that offer no broodcare.
==Aquaculture==
Some commercially important fish are mouthbrooders, most notably among the [[tilapiines]] and [[arowana]]s. Fry harvesting, getting the brooding fish to open its mouth and release the fry, is important if the fry are to be reared artificially. In the case of endangered species, such as [[Asian arowana]], harvesting may be supervised by an official
==Brood parasites==
Some fish have evolved to exploit the mouthbrooding behaviour of other species. ''[[Synodontis multipunctatus]]'', also known as the cuckoo catfish, combines mouthbrooding with the behavior of a [[brood parasite]]: it
==Families of mouthbrooding fish==
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* [[Apogonidae]] (cardinalfish): All paternal mouthbrooders
* [[Ariidae]] (sea catfish): All paternal mouthbrooders
* [[Bagridae]] (Bagrid catfish):
* [[Cichlidae]] (cichlids): Numerous species are mouthbrooders,
* [[
* [[Liparidae]] (snailfish): ''[[Careproctus ovigerus]]'' is the only species known to be a mouthbrooder (specifically paternal), but the breeding behavior of many other species in the family is unknown.
* [[Opistognathidae]] (jawfishes): All paternal mouthbrooders
* [[Osphronemidae]] (gouramis): A few genera (notably ''[[Betta]]'', by far the largest genus) contain or consist entirely of paternal mouthbrooders. Two species of ''[[Sphaerichthys]]'' are
* [[Osteoglossidae]] (arowanas):
==See also==
* ''[[Amblyopsis]]'' – a genus of cavefish that brood in the gill chambers
* [[Gastric-brooding frog]] – an extinct genus of frog that incubated their eggs in the stomach
==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}
{{Wiktionary}}
{{
{{Brood parasite}}
{{Animalbirth}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Herpetology]]
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