Nocturnal spawning as a way to avoid egg exposure to diurnal predators

0495321 - BC 2019 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Šmejkal, Marek - Souza, Allan T. - Blabolil, Petr - Bartoň, Daniel - Sajdlová, Zuzana - Vejřík, Lukáš - Kubečka, Jan
Nocturnal spawning as a way to avoid egg exposure to diurnal predators.
Scientific Reports. Roč. 8, OCT (2018), s. 15377. ISSN 2045-2322. E-ISSN 2045-2322
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_025/0007417
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : reproduction * anti-predator behaviour * diurnal activity * fish
OECD category: Behavioral sciences biology
Impact factor: 4.011, year: 2018

Animals that do not provide parental care have to secure the survival of their offspring by ensuring a safe reproductive environment or smart timing tactics. Nocturnal spawning behaviour of many fish species is an example of the latter behaviour in the animal kingdom and is hypothesized to provide a survival advantage to the eggs spawned during the night. In order to test the efficiency of the smart timing tactics in a freshwater fish, a study was carried out of the interaction of the rheophilic spawner (asp Leuciscus aspius) and the predator of its drifting eggs (bleak Alburnus alburnus) using passive telemetry. According to a model based on acquired data, asp laid 63% of its eggs at night, while vision-oriented bleak was present in 92% of the time during the day. This study gives support to the predator avoidance hypothesis, which expects animals to reproduce in a period when the probability of offspring predation is at its lowest.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0288327