英语听力文摘 English Digest 514、鱼的招亲广告

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　　鱼的招亲广告

 

　　Today we're looking at fish single's ads, let's see--- single fish female seeks good father to help with eggs. Come on, don't be serious. Fish don't place ad in a paper, plus I thought a common assumption in biology is that reproductive behavior conflicts with parenting behavior, since more energy animals spent on parenting, the less energy it has to spend on courting and mating. So wouldn't the female fish be more likely to fall for a good wooer. Actually I hope.

 

　　Scientists documented what is known as parental¹ courtship behavior in the lab. That’s when an animal shows off its parenting skills to attract a mate. Really? Yep.

 

　　University of Florida Researchers studied the sand goby, a small fish native to the European coast that is among the twenty percent of fish species that exhibit parenting behavior.

 

　　Sand gobies nest under sea shells, and the males not only defend the nests, but also hollow them out. Then, once the eggs are laid, they use their pectoral fins² to fan them, creating a current of oxygenated water that helps the eggs mature.

 

　　Ok, but don't they also nibble³ on their eggs? They do indeed. But here’s the interesting thing. The scientists observed that when there were female sand gobies around, the males spent less time nibbling⁴ and more time fanning their eggs and working on their nests. Show off. This was especially true for sand gobies with larger nests, maybe because bigger nests provide room for additional mating. And do the female sand gobies fall for these fatherly types? That's the next question researcher's trying to answer.

 

　　今天我们来看看鱼的招亲广告---单身雌鱼在寻找能帮助产卵的优良雄鱼。你不是说真的吧？鱼不可能登广告，而且生物学上有一个常见的假设---繁殖与育儿行为相冲突。由于在育儿方面花了更多精力，在求爱和交配上剩的精力就少了。所以雌鱼难道不会选择一个更好的求爱者吗？

 

　　我希望如此。科学家记录下了实验室内所谓的亲代求偶行为。这时动物展示它们的育儿技巧来求偶。佛罗里达大学的研究人员对沙鰕虎鱼，一种生于欧洲海岸的小鱼进行了研究。有20%的鱼类表现出育儿行为，沙鰕虎鱼属其中之一。

 

　　沙鰕虎鱼在海螺壳下筑巢。雄性沙鰕虎鱼不仅要护巢，还要让它空无一物。产下卵后，它们会用胸鳍扇风，制造一股充满氧气的水，助卵成熟。

 

　　但它们也要吃自己的宝宝吗？的确是。但有一个非常有趣的现象。科学家观察发现，当附近有雌沙鰕虎鱼时，雄沙鰕虎鱼花更少时间咬它们，而花更多时间给宝宝扇风，或者筑巢。这是卖弄。这种现象对有较大巢穴的雄沙鰕虎鱼而言更是如此，也许是因为巢越大，交配的空间越大。那么雌沙鰕虎鱼会为这种充满父爱型的动心吗？这是研究人员接下来要探索的问题了。

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