The Role of Urine in Parent‐Offspring Communication in a Cichlid Fish

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Abstract
The fry of the Midas cichlid,Cichlasoma citrinellum, preferred over blank water, a urine solution from either parent or from a nonparental adult of either sex. They failed to show a preference for the urine of a predator,C. managuense, or for the mucus from the mother. It is possible that steroid titers in urine could provide information on sex, and that peptide chains in urine could indicate species. The chemosensory acuity of fry is high, as they were able to detect a “concentration” of pheromone as low as one sibling per 2 1 of water. This high acuity implies that olfaction rather than gustation mediated the chemosensory responses described above.