Early and late developmental arrest as complementary embryonic bet‐hedging strategies in African killifish

摘要: The production of dormant eggs is a crucial adaptation for African killifish the genus Nothobranchius to survive in temporary waters. These habitats are often characterized by unpredictable variation suitability growing seasons as result variable lengths inundations and colonization piscivorous fish. Incomplete hatching could enable buffer against reproductive failure during unsuitable inundations. Although this phenomenon has been tentatively linked dormancy states, it never investigated under controlled conditions its viability bet hedging strategy distribute offspring over several remains unclear. In present study, we used common garden experiments assess contribution environmental modulation delayed testing feasibility arrested development presence absence cues. Overall, results confirmed that cues signalling threat (predator kairomones) inhibited hatching. However, also occurred independent was regulated at two stages. Developmental arrest energy-efficient stages means long-term years, whereas energy-consuming final stage may serve similar purpose shorter time scales. © 2015 Linnean Society London, Biological Journal Society, 2015, 114, 941–948.