The reproductive behaviour of Pogonophryne scotti confirms widespread egg‐guarding parental care among Antarctic notothenioids

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Jones, C. D., Near, T. J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2012
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Weddell Sea; Weddell; South Orkney Islands; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03282.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.2012.03282.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03282.x

In this paper, the first documentation of egg‐guarding behaviour in an artedidraconid species, Pogonophryne scotti , through in situ photographic imagery obtained during video transects is provided. The male specimen was observed closely guarding a well‐defined multi‐layered egg mass deposited on the sea floor at 240 m on the southern South Orkney Islands shelf in the northern Weddell Sea. Egg‐guarding parental care is present in species that are distributed among all of the major lineages of Antarctic notothenioids; however, lack of information on egg‐deposition behaviours in Bovichtidae and Pseudaphritis prevents assessment of whether parental care originated prior to the origin of the Antarctic notothenioid radiation.