Tidal cycling and parental behavior of the cichlid fish, Biotodoma cupido

Abstract

Parental behavior of the substrate-brooding cichlid, Biotodoma cupido , was studied in a small creek entering the lower Essequibo River, Guyana, where the freshwaters are affected by semi-diurnal tides. Physico-chemical variables of the tidal cycle were associated with the parental behavior of B. cupido . During late ebb and early flood tides, while off-spring were nest dependent, parents displayed intense aggression toward brood predators, mainly characins. At low tide, when the concentration of dissolved oxygen decreased to about 4 mg 1 −1 and that of free carbon dioxide increased to 28 mg 1 −1 , parents entered a state of somnolence and brood predators vanished. Early flood tide brought an immediate and dramatic reversal of hypoxic and hypercarbic conditions and an associated renewal of aggressive and predatory activity. At very low tide, parents orally transferred the brood to a secondary nest depression in deeper water. The significance of water-level fluctuation to the evolution of this behavior, as well as that of parent-brood itineracy and the related phenomena of oral incubation and movable nests, is discussed.