Underwater… empty nesters?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Raising a baby takes a lot of work! How do animals know when it’s time to quit?
John Majoris, from the University of Boston and team wondered. They studied neon gobies, a seemingly common egg-laying fish. But researchers believe they may also control when it’s time for their young to hatch!
To test this, researchers raised goby eggs. They treated batches of eggs differently. Either: leaving them undisturbed, or occasionally shaking them, as their fathers would. They also observed how the males were caring for their eggs in the lab.
Results?
In the wild, gobies had their eggs all hatch at the same time. The fish in the lab did this too! BUT the eggs cared for by the team hatched at different times.
The researchers think these dads CHOOSE the hatch time, based on environmental conditions. How? By one last, HUGE shake!
Hope you like your eggs scrambled!
Reference: Eacock, A., Rowland, H.M., van’t Hof, A.E. et al. Adaptive colour change and background choice behaviour in peppered moth caterpillars is mediated by extraocular photoreception. Commun Biol 2, 286 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0502-7