Abstract
An alpheid shrimp,Athanas kominatoensis, inhabiting a Japanese purple sea urchin was shown to be a partially protandrous hermaphrodite. They settled mainly in summer and spent the first reproductive season as males. Smaller males changed into females the following spring, but larger ones remained males throughout their lives. Sex change was socially controlled, as has been known in some fishes. In contrast to the fishes, however, subordinates changed their sex as the best of a bad situation in this shrimp. Most larger individuals lived singly or in sexual pairs, not tolerating others of the same sex on a host. The larger a male was, the more likely he was to be found with a female. On the contrary, males smaller than 3 mm were tolerated by larger males to some extent and had chances to cohabit and copulate with larger females. This made it advantageous to be functional as a male at first. Though the secondary sex change from female to male is theoretically expected, it is hardly realized because of the short life span. Hermaphroditism in this shrimp can be explained by the size-advantage model as a special case.
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Nakashima, Y. Reproductive strategies in a partially protandrous shrimp,Athanas kominatoensis (decapoda: alpheidae): Sex change as the best of a bad situation for subordinates. J. Ethol. 5, 145–159 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02349947
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02349947