The neuroendocrine basis for parental care in teleost fish

Parental care enhances offspring survival but requires profound alteration of parental physiological and behavioural states. Among vertebrates, teleost fishes exhibit great diversity in parental strategies, providing opportunities to investigate how the brains of different species integrate internal and external cues to produce adaptive care behaviours. Key regulators of parenting include prolactin, vasopressin, oxytocin and gonadal steroids, showing that endocrine signals coordinate parental motivation, protection, and feeding behaviour. At the neural level, recent studies highlight the hypothalamus as central for the integration of reproductive and energetic states. Key regulators of the balance between offspring-directed behaviour and self-maintenance include neurons that express galanin, mirroring conserved motifs described in mammals. As emerging tools advance our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie fish parental care, we will gain deeper insights into the evolution of neural circuits for social behaviour.