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Courtship and spawning behavior of the pygmy grouper, Cephalopholis spiloparaea (Serranidae: Epinephelinae), with notes on C. argus and C. urodeta

Environmental Biology of Fishes volume 43, pages 363–370 (1995)Cite this article

Synopsis

Courtship and spawning behavior is described for the grouper Cephalopholis spiloparaea from Rota, Mariana Islands. Daily courtship behavior began late in the afternoon and proceeded until after sunset. Males repeatedly visited females in single-male, multiple-female mating groups during each period and engaged in courtship bouts. Mating was observed only twice, was paired and pelagic. Two congeners, C. argus and C. urodeta, with overlapping geographical distributions, were also examined. Cephalopholis urodeta appeared to have a mating group organization similar to that of C. spiloparaea, with some similarity in courtship behavior. Cephalopholis argus also had a similar mating group organization but differed in courtship behavior. This species' behavior more closely resembled that of similarity-sized Epinephelus spp.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812, Japan

    Terry J. Donaldson

  2. University of Guam Marine Laboratory, Mangilao, Guam, 96923, USA

    Terry J. Donaldson

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  1. Terry J. Donaldson
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Donaldson, T.J. Courtship and spawning behavior of the pygmy grouper, Cephalopholis spiloparaea (Serranidae: Epinephelinae), with notes on C. argus and C. urodeta . Environ Biol Fish 43, 363–370 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00001171

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00001171

Key words

  • Mariana Islands
  • Pelagic spawning
  • Reef fish