Helpful Fish: Cooperative Cichlids Boost Their Own Reproductive Success

Subordinate individuals living within a group of vertebrates sometimes assist a more dominant pair by helping to raise the dominant pair's offspring -- this has been shown to occur among subordinate female cichlids. Scientists suggest that rather than engaging in an act of reciprocal altruism, these subordinate females actually benefit from the care-giving they offer as the more helpful subordinates are more likely to reproduce.

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