Abstract
The diel timing of pelagic spawning in reef fish has been discussed in the context of adaptation to local environmental conditions. However, interspecific variations in spawning time are also known to occur at a single locality. The family Labridae, composed of wrasses and parrotfishes, is one of the largest groups of fish on coral reefs. We investigated the spawning behavior and interspecific interactions of 30 species of wrasse at the same spawning site, a reef edge off Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan, where we previously studied 13 species of parrotfish. Six patterns in spawning time, related to time of day and high tide, were distinguished at the spawning site. Most wrasses spawned around high tide in the daytime and a few spawned at dusk only, whereas most parrotfishes spawned in the early morning, and some species exhibited intermediate (mixed) patterns. The interspecific variation in spawning time can be explained at least in part by phylogenetic constraints. Physiological constraints on spawning time are also discussed in relation to the different external cues that activate oocyte maturation.
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Acknowledgments
The Iriomote Station of the Tropical Biosphere Research Center at the University of the Ryukyus provided the facilities for the fieldwork. We thank Teppei Sagawa for field assistance and the anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 1851020 and 21570026 to T. Kuwamura from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The research presented here complies with the current laws of Japan and the guidelines of the Ichthyological Society of Japan.
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Kuwamura, T., Suzuki, S. & Kadota, T. Interspecific variation in the spawning time of labrid fish on a fringing reef at Iriomote Island, Okinawa. Ichthyol Res 63, 460–469 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0515-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0515-x