評論
打印
Fish ad
魚的招親廣告
Today we're looking at fish single's ads, let's see—single fish female seeks good father to help with eggs. Come on, don't be serious. Fish don't place ad in a paper, plus I thought a common assumption in biology is that reproductive behavior conflicts with parenting behavior, since more energy animals spent on parenting, the less energy it has to spend on courting and mating. So wouldn't the female fish be more likely to fall for a good wooer.
今天我們來看看魚的招親廣告——單身雌魚在尋找能幫助產卵的優良雄魚。你不是說真的吧？魚不可能登廣告，而且生物學上有一個常見的假設——繁殖與育兒行為相沖突。由于在育兒方面花了更多精力，在求愛和交配上剩的精力就少了。所以雌魚難道不會選擇一個更好的求愛者嗎？
Actually I hope. Scientists documented what is known as parental courtship behavior in the lab. That's when an animal shows off its parenting skills to attract a mate. Really? Yep. University of Florida Researchers studied the sand goby, a small fish native to the European coast that is among the twenty percent of fish species that exhibit parenting behavior.
我希望如此。科學家記錄下了實驗室內所謂的親代求偶行為。這時動物展示它們的育兒技巧來求偶。佛羅里達大學的研究人員對沙鰕虎魚，一種生于歐洲海岸的小魚進行了研究。有20%的魚類表現出育兒行為，沙鰕虎魚屬其中之一。
Sand gobies nest under sea shells, and the males not only defend the nests, but also hollow them out. Then, once the eggs are laid, they use their pectoral fins to fan them, creating a current of oxygenated water that helps the eggs mature.
沙鰕虎魚在海螺殼下筑巢。雄性沙鰕虎魚不僅要護巢，還要讓它空無一物。產下卵后，它們會用胸鰭扇風，制造一股充滿氧氣的水，助卵成熟。
Ok, but don't they also nibble on their eggs? They do indeed. But here's the interesting thing. The scientists observed that when there were female sand gobies around, the males spent less time nibbling and more time fanning their eggs and working on their nests. Show off. This was especially true for sand gobies with larger nests, maybe because bigger nests provide room for additional mating. And do the female sand gobies fall for these fatherly types? That's the next question researcher's trying to answer.
但它們也要吃自己的寶寶嗎？的確是。但有一個非常有趣的現象。科學家觀察發現，當附近有雌沙鰕虎魚時，雄沙鰕虎魚花更少時間咬它們，而花更多時間給寶寶扇風，或者筑巢。這是賣弄。這種現象對有較大巢穴的雄沙鰕虎魚而言更是如此，也許是因為巢越大，交配的空間越大。那么雌沙鰕虎魚會為這種充滿父愛型的動心嗎？這是研究人員接下來要探索的問題了。
