Abstract
In most labrid fishes, large males with bright terminal phase (TP) coloration normally defend mating territories and pair spawn after following (i.e., courting) solitary females. It has also been reported that the TP males may abandon their territories and participate in group spawning when mating groups of small non-territorial males with drab initial phase (IP) coloration frequently intrude into the territories of TP males. In the similar situation of the present study, however, the territorial TP males of the threespot wrasse, Halichoeres trimaculatus, did not always participate in group spawning but continued pair spawning. Only the TP males that had few opportunities to encounter solitary IP individuals participated in group spawning, frequently following the mating groups of IP individuals. It is therefore suggested that group spawning of the territorial TP males is regarded as a tactic of making the best of the bad situation by the TP males with few opportunities to pair spawn in an area where group spawning dominates.
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Acknowledgments
The Iriomote Laboratory of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature and the Iriomote Station of the Tropical Biosphere Research Center at the University of the Ryukyus provided facilities for fieldwork. We are grateful to T. Sagawa, A. Fujiwara, and Y. Uchikawa for field assistance. This work was funded by the Iriomote Project of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in 2005. This is a contribution from the Iriomote Station. All field work complied with the current laws of Japan.
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Suzuki, S., Kuwamura, T., Nakashima, Y. et al. Social factors of group spawning as an alternative mating tactic in the territorial males of the threespot wrasse Halichoeres trimaculatus . Environ Biol Fish 89, 71–77 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9691-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9691-0