Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a variety of different animals, such as the Darwin's frog, fishes are by far the most diverse mouthbrooders. Mouthbrooding has evolved independently in several different families of fish.