Inbreeding is beneficial for fish

While inbreeding in humans can have serious consequences, scientists find it to be beneficial to the wild world.

Animals in the wild often avoid "close" relatives because inbreeding will produce harmful genes for the next generation.

However, recent estimates suggest that sometimes the benefits of inbreeding may be greater than its cost. Evolutionary biologist Timo Thünken at the University of Bonn in Germany and his colleagues discovered evidence supporting this hypothesis.

Small African fish Pelvicachromis taeniatus
(Photo: aquariumhobbyist)

The group studied the small African fish Pelvicachromis taeniatu living in the rivers of Cameroon and Nigeria. Males occupy caves and females compete with each other to get close to him.

Researchers send their children to choose partners in an aquarium containing many males. Contrary to conjecture, the children do not elude the brothers but are even more excited. This is illustrated in 17/23 tests.

In this fish, both parents take care of and protect the offspring from the enemy. This requires high cooperation. So parents who are cousins ​​will cooperate better than those who are not blood relatives. Researchers have observed that couples who are relatives spend more time with their young children. The male in the pair is also a relative who spends more time defending his lair and rarely attacks his partner.

In addition, the group also found that inbreeding did not lead to higher rates of bad genes. But Thünken suggests that close mating may affect the traits that they have not seen, such as the fertility of the offspring.

MT