Female-female spawning in the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus

(14.6MB, 00:02:28)

* species
Labroides dimidiatus

Key Words







2001/11/23 submitted


Animalia >Chordata >Osteichthyes >Perciformes >Labridae >Labroides >
or
Animalia >Unidentified >Unidentified >Unidentified >Unidentified >Unidentified >

The cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus live in haremic polygynous groups. When the male of a group dies, the largest remaining female changes sex and becomes a male. On the coral reef of Sesoko Island in Okinawa, we removed the male from a group of one male and two females about one hour before the predicted spawning time. Both females had a swollen abdomen. After a while, however, the larger female started to show a male-specific courtship display ŽÔpassing and quiveringŽÕ toward the smaller female. The two fish then ascended in the water column while intertwining with each other. They stopped in the middle and descended to the bottom. The larger female repeated the courtship display, and the two ascended again and spawned. Both females released eggs (You can see a diver ready to collect eggs with a net in the video picture). This experiment has demonstrated that a female could perform male-specific courtship behavior in response to changes in its social status and independently of its gonadal sex and state (i.e., a mature active ovary). (Please refer to the following paper for an explanation in English.)

Reference:
Nakashima, Y., Sakai, Y., Karino, K. & Kuwamura, T. 2000. Female-female spawning and sex change in a haremic coral-reef fish, Labroides dimidiatus. Zoological Science 17: 967-970.

(Data No.momo011123ld01a)

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