Sato T
Nature. 1986;323(6083):58-9. doi: 10.1038/323058a0.
Brood parasitism, where a brood of the parasitic species is fostered by the parents of another species, is well known among birds. In most cases, such offspring show a complete reliance upon their host parents for food, protection and warmth until their independence. In other vertebrate groups, however, such total dependence upon a host species is unknown. I report here the first example of true brood parasitic behaviour discovered among fishes. In Lake Tanganyika, an endemic mochokid catfish, Synodontis multipunctatus Boulenger, is a brood parasite of mouthbrooding fishes of the family Cichlidae. The eggs of the catfish are incubated in the mouths of any of several host species together with the host's eggs, but hatch earlier. Following absorption of their yolk sacs, the catfish fry feed upon the fry of the host while still in its mouth. Thus the early stages of development of this catfish not only depend upon their hosts for food and protection, but exploit almost their entire parental investment.
巢寄生现象在鸟类中广为人知，即寄生物种的一窝幼雏由另一物种的亲代抚养。在大多数情况下，此类幼雏在独立之前完全依赖寄主父母提供食物、保护和温暖。然而，在其他脊椎动物类群中，对寄主物种的这种完全依赖并不为人所知。我在此报告首次在鱼类中发现的真正巢寄生行为的例子。在坦噶尼喀湖，一种特有的歧须鮠科鲶鱼，即多斑歧须鮠（Boulenger命名），是丽鱼科口育鱼类的巢寄生者。鲶鱼的卵与寄主的卵一起在几种寄主物种的口中孵化，但孵化时间更早。在吸收完卵黄囊后，鲶鱼幼鱼仍在寄主口中时就以寄主的幼鱼为食。因此，这种鲶鱼发育的早期阶段不仅依赖寄主提供食物和保护，还几乎利用了寄主全部的亲代投入。
