Night Spawning and Paternal Mouthbrooding of the Cardinalfish Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus

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Mouthbrooding of eggs has been reported for many cardinalfishes (Apogonidae), but only in 10 species or so have courtship and spawning been described (see review in Thresher, 1984; Kuwamura, 1983a, 1985). The general pattern of their reproductive behavior is as follows. Pair spawning occurs in the daytime, though most apogonids are nocturnal in feeding; eggs are extruded in a large mass of 2-3 cm in diameter and the male snatches it up into its mouth from the female's abdomen; the male incubates only one clutch at a time. However, the spawning pattern of Cheilodipterus lineatus appears to be very different from above, according to a field observation by Fishelson (1970). Spawning of this species occurred shortly after sunset; a small egg ball (2.0-2.5mm in diameter) was expelled and attached to the substrate; after the male picked it up, he resumed courting another (or the same ?) female, but no further mating was confirmed due to the darkness. Fishelson suggested that the male might carry several spawns and that the spawning behavior of C. lineatus resembled that of sub-strate-brooding cichlids. If so, the similarity may suggest that mouthbrooding in apogonids is derived from a substrate-brooding ancestor (see Baylis, 1981). To confirm whether this is a common pattern of spawning in genus Cheilodipterus, I investigated the reproductive behavior of Cheilodipterus spp.at coral reef area in Okinawa, southern Japan. These species began courtship at dusk, and night spawning was observed in C. quinquelineatus Cuvier. Its spawning behavior resembled those of most apogonids, however, not that described by Fishelson (1970) for C. lineatus.
日本魚類学会の論文

Night Spawning and Paternal Mouthbrooding of the Cardinalfish <I>Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus</I>

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日本魚類学会 | 論文

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