Honey, I ate the kids: When caring fish turn cannibal.Some fathers show their affection by spending time with their children, others spoil their kids rotten. Some fish, on the other hand, value their offspring so much that they devour them before a predator gets the chance.
Savage as it may seem, filial cannibalism makes perfect sense for animals such as sand gobies that invest time and energy in raising large numbers of offspring, says Ashley Chin-Baarstad, a biologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who led the study.
In a role reversal of sorts, male sand gobies tend the eggs from multiple females, who go off on a search for more mates. But a long summer breeding season gives the males ample time to raise multiple broods and, rather than waiting until the eggs have hatched, sometimes they simply make a snack of them.
"They've decided it's just not worth it right now and for whatever reason they want to leave," Baarstad says. By eating their eggs, they can at least recoup some of their investment.
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This reminds me of Swift's "modest proposal".