Bigger, bossier familes more appealing for cichlid
Copyright © Chrisjfry, Creative Commons
The study by Lyndon Jordan, Marian Wong and Sigal Balshine examined the group membership decisions of the daffodil cichlid (Neolamprologus pulcher).
The daffodil cichlid is a group-living cichlid with subordinate individuals helping out the dominant breeding pair in taking care of the young.
The dominance hierarchies in such groups are sized-based, and subordinate fish have to opportunity to inherit dominant status; however, subordinate fishes have been known to switch allegiances and move among groups.
The authors examine group membership preferences in the daffodil cichlid to test the hypothesis that helpers prefer to join familiar groups when possible, but when faced with unfamiliar groups, choose based on the likelihood of improving their social position.
