Abstract
In the simultaneously hermaphroditic marine fish, Serranus subligarius, male role individuals are known to pair spawn, group spawn and streak spawn. While the effects of these common mating tactics on mating success in the male role have been well studied, their consequences for the reproductive success of the individuals taking the female role have received little attention. To investigate those consequences, I observed mating behaviors and quantified fertilization success in natural and experimental settings during the summers of 2005–2008 at three sites with different local population densities. I observed focal individuals in 15-min increments and recorded the total number of spawns, number of streak spawns, size of participating spawners, and fertilization rate. The occurrence of small-sized individuals in the local population is associated with higher frequencies of streaking behavior; these small fish are most often first-year individuals reaching sexual maturity late in the spawning season (August/September). Spawns that included one or more streak spawners had a significantly lower average fertilization rate (89 %) than pair spawns without a streak spawner (97 %). This pattern was confirmed with a field manipulation experiment in which spawning events that included streakers again showed lower fertilization rates (93 %) than spawning events that did not include streakers (98 %). These lower fertilization rates occurred despite the fact that spawns that included multiple males produced, on average, 20 % more sperm than produced in spawns with only a single male. These results indicate that females incur a significant fitness cost when streakers invade a spawning event, a cost not attributable to sperm limitation or any direct effects on the female.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Charnov EL (1979) Simultaneous hermaphroditism and sexual selection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76(5):2480–2484
Denny MW, Shibata MF (1989) Consequences of surf-zone turbulence for settlement and external fertilization. Am Nat 134:859–889
Franke ES, Babcock RC, Styan CA (2002) Sexual conflict and polyspermy under sperm limited conditions: in situ evidence from field simulations with the free-spawning marine echinoid Evechinus chloroticus. Am Nat 160:485–496
Fuller RC (1998) Sperm competition effects male behaviour and sperm output in the rainbow darter. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:2365–2371
Ginzburg AS (1972) Fertilization in fishes and the problem of polyspermy. US Dep Comm Nat Tech Inf Ser, Springfield
Hastings PA, Bortone SA (1980) Observations on the life history of the belted sandfish, Serranus subligarius. Environ Biol Fishes 5(4):365–374
Kiflawi M, Mazeroll AI, Goulet D (1998) Does mass spawning enhance fertilization in coral reef fish? A case study of the brown surgeonfish. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 172:107–114
Leonard JL (2006) Sexual selection: lesson from hermaphrodite mating systems. Integr Comp Biol 46(4):349–367
Levitan DR (1991) Influence of body size and population densities on fertilization success and reproductive output in a free-spawning invertebrate. Biol Bull 181:261–268
Levitan DR (2004) Density-dependent sexual selection in external fertilizers: variances in male and female fertilization success along the continuum from sperm limitation to sexual conflict in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus fransiscanus. Am Nat 164:298–309
Levitan DR (2005) Sex-specific spawning behavior and its consequences in an external fertilizer. Am Nat 45(5):848–855
Marconato A, Shapiro DY (1996) Sperm allocation, sperm production and fertilization rates in the bucktooth parrotfish. Anim Behav 52:971–980
Marconato A, Shapiro DY, Petersen CW, Warner RR, Yoshikawa T (1997) Methodological analysis of fertilization rate in the bluehead wrasse Thalassoma bifasciatum: pair versus group spawns. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 161:61–70
Murata K (2008) Blocks to polyspermy in fishes: a brief review. In: Proceedings of the UJNR aquaculture panel, NOAA
Oliver AS (1997) Size and density dependent mating tactics in the simultaneously hermaphroditic seabass Serranus subligarius. Behaviour 134:563–594
Parker GA (1970) Sperm competition and its evolutionary consequences in the insects. Biol Rev 45:525–567
Parker GA, Ball MA, Stockley P, Gage MJG (1996) Sperm competition games: individual assessment of sperm competition intensity by group spawners. Proc R Soc Lond B 263:1291–1297
Petersen CW (1991) Variation in fertilization rate in a tropical reef fish, Halichoeres bivittatus: correlates and implications. Biol Bull 181:232–237
Petersen CW (2006) Sexual selection and reproductive success in hermaphroditic seabasses. Integr Comp Biol 46(4):439–448
Petersen CW, Warner RR, Cohen S, Hess HC, Sewell AT (1992) Variable pelagic fertilization success: implications for mate choice and spatial patterns of mating. Ecology 73:391–401
Petersen CW, Warner RR, Shapiro DY, Marconato A (2001) Components of fertilization success in the bluehead wrasse, Thalassoma bifasciatum. Behav Ecol 12:237–245
Pilastro A, Scaggiante M, Rasotto MB (2002) Individual adjustment of sperm expenditure accords with sperm competition theory. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 99(15):9913–9915
Reichard M, Le Comber SC, Smith C (2007) Sneaking from a female perspective. Anim Behav 144:1403–1417
Robins CR, Starck WA II (1961) Materials for a revision of Serranus and related fish genera. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113:259–314
Scaggiante M, Rasotto MB, Romualdi C, Pilastro A (2005) Territorial male gobies respond aggressively to sneakers but do not adjust their sperm expenditure. Behav Ecol 16(6):1001–1007
Thresher RE (1984) Reproduction in reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City
Warner RR (1984) Mating behavior and hermaphroditism in coral reef fishes. Am Sci 72:128–136
Warner RR, Shapiro DY, Marconato A, Petersen CW (1995) Sexual conflict: males with higher mating success convey the lowest fertilization benefits to females. Proc R Soc Lond B 262:135–139
Wooninck L, Warner RR, Fleischer R (2000) Relative fitness components measured with competitive PCR. Mol Ecol 9:1409–1414
Yoshikawa T (1992) Efficient sperm use in a coral reef fish. MSc thesis, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the Levitan and Travis labs, as well as P. Hastings and R. Warner for their suggestions and help with this project along the way. Thank you to my many field and laboratory assistants, without which this work could not have been done. This includes S. Chaplin, K. Grace, K. Kingon, M. Kirk, A. Marsh, C. Lakner, and B. Storz. Special thanks to A. David and the people at the NOAA fisheries laboratory in Panama City, FL for allowing me to use their facility and laboratory equipment and to the St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, FL, for allowing this research to take place. J. Travis, M. Steele, Ø. Fiksen, C. Petersen and two anonymous reviewers provided valuable suggestions on this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Øyvind Fiksen.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Adreani, M.S. The effect of alternative mating tactics on the fertilization success of a hermaphroditic seabass. Oecologia 170, 355–361 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2307-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2307-y