Filial Cannibalism Essay

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Filial cannibalism is a biological phenomenon where an adult or a parent of a species attacks and consumes all or some of its offspring. This behaviour is quite common among fish species, the family poeciliidae in particular. Filial cannibalism in poeciliids is very well documented due to their commercial popularity as aquaria fish. Poeciliids are live-bearers and engage in partial clutch cannibalism where the parents only cannibalise on some of their offspring (Manica 2002). Scientists do not fully understand as to why this behaviour exists as it is seemingly disadvantageous since the act decreases their reproductive success and ability to pass on their genes. Yet, if the behaviour was to the detriment of the poeciliids the trait would not have been favoured, evolutionarily speaking. Filial cannibalism is so widespread among poeciliids, which means that there must be benefits to this behaviour. However, does this behaviour only benefit those in captivity or is it as prominent in wild poeciliids?
While filial cannibalism is well documented …show more content…

1996). A study was done to examine the different parent-juvenile interactions of two different species of poeciliids: P. Monacha and P. Lucida. Individual females of the two species were place into chambers that had a mesh net to segregate it and allow juveniles to swim through and escape attack from the parent. The females were kept in these chambers as they birthed offspring and were recorded. It was found that the p. monacha females cannibalised their offspring immediately while the p. lucida females did not (Thibault 1974). The p. monacha juveniles that did escape the initial attack, swum to the bottom and through the mesh net. However, the juvenile p. lucida remained in the same section of the chamber with the female near the water

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