Question

In the fish called the peacock wrasse (Symphodus tinca), females disperse some of their eggs widely and lay other eggs in a nest. Only the latter receive parental care. Explain the trade-offs in reproduction that this behavior illustrates.

Short answer

The peacock invests energy by providing parental care to the eggs laid in the nest at the cost of dispersing some eggs widely. Parental care enhances the survival of the eggs laid in the nest. On the other hand, the eggs disperse widely, do not receive parental care, and thus are less likely to survive. This behavior of peacocks illustrates the trade-offs in reproduction.

Step-by-step solution

Trade-offs

Due to the limited amount of resources available, a trade-off emerges between the number of children and the amount of resources a person can supply to each offspring. Thus, a trade-off occurs between reproductive and survival qualities, such as reproduction frequency, number of offspring, and parental care investment.

Parental Care 

Parental care is an altruistic type of behavior that favors the increasing fitness of the offspringduring the stage in which parents and offspring are associated.Most often, parental care in fishes is provided by only one parent that improves the quality of offspring.

This results in an increased chance of survival of offspring in the future when parents are not associated with offspring.

Survival of offspring

The chances of survival for all offspring in most organisms are less due to the limited resources.As a result, the parents take precise steps to ensure that their offspring have a good chance of surviving.

In this case, females disperse some of their eggs widely and lay other eggs in a nest because the parents cannot fully provide parental care and resources for the ones laid in the nest. The adults inhibit the risk of placing all eggs in one basket and thus, need a low investment.

The parental care will be provided for the ones laid in the nest and will have a significantly increased chance of survival for those eggs. Parental care improves the survival of the offspring at the expense of the parents or peacock wrasse.