Abstract
Few studies have investigated the innate tendencies of newborn fish to avoid cannibalism by parents. Parental avoidance by neonates of viviparous fish in the genus Poeciliopsiswas examined. Hybridization between P. monacha , a cannibalistic species, and P. lucida , a non-cannibalistic species, produced the clonally reproducing, all-female form, P. monacha-lucida . Naturally occurring clones of P. monacha-lucida tend to be intermediate with respect to cannibalism. Neonates of P. lucida did not avoid their female parent, whereas neonates of the cannibalistic forms, P. monacha and P. monacha-lucida , clearly did. Examination of several laboratory-synthesized P. monacha-lucida strains revealed that differences between clones in their innate avoidance behaviour were fixed from genetic variance that existed in their P. monacha sexual ancestors. Parental avoidance increased with size at birth, which might represent a successful anti-cannibalism strategy in nature.
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