Mucus for dinner

The proud parents and their mucus eating fry.

Cichlids are great parents. All cichlid species contribute some degree of parental care, with many extreme examples, such as the mouthbrooders who forgo eating for several weeks while their eggs develop in their mouth.

The Amazonian cichlids known as discus fish (pictured below) secrete mucus from their bodies for their baby discus fish to eat. I wonder what it tastes like?


Journal of Experimental Biology has a new paper on them entitled "Biparental mucus feeding: a unique example of parental care in an Amazonian cichlid" that you can check out if you're interested. Or read the short press release here.