A species of small tropical fish known as the guppy is a case in point for a new research on the animal kingdom. The research, based on these fish, indicates that offsprings of the same father are always inclined to stick together.
Dr Jonathan Evans and Dr Jennifer Kelley, from the University of Western Australia, carried out the research.
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Shoaling, or crowding close together, is a common survival trait among fish.
The researchers artificially inseminated one group of female guppies with sperm from a single male and another with sperm from two males. They then observed the behavior of the offspring 24 hours after they were born.
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The mean distance between each full-siblings within a shoal was 53.4 millimeter, compared to 68.4 millimeters for half-siblings.
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"The more similar you are to other individuals in the group the less is your risk. You're better shoaling with like individuals so you're not the odd one out," he said.
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"We don't know. What we think is going on is that they are using some kind of phenotype matching. It's possible that they are able to associate on the basis of some sort of visual cues," said Evans, adding that odor may also play a role.
"But, since we've never investigated (such mechanisms) in guppies, I wouldn't want to say that's what's doing it," he explained.
Previous research has shown that salmonid fish display less aggression towards full-siblings, and sticklebacks are more likely to engage in risky cooperative behavior such as predator inspection.
"As long as you've got some kind of mechanism in place, like shoaling or cooperation that presents a benefit, then of course this could apply to animals other than guppies," said Evans.
Source-ANI
TAN/SK
