Environmental determinants of butterflyfish social systems |
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Authors: | Thomas F Hourigan |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, 96822, U.S.A.;(2) Present address: Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaijicho Okazaki, 444, Japan |
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Abstract: | Synopsis Butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae) display a variety of social systems, including monogamous pair-bonds, harems, and schooling
with group spawning. The range of reproductive options available to butterflyfishes is shaped by their general life history
characteristics, such as broadcast spawning with widely dispersed pelagic larvae, large body size and low adult mortality.
The distribution and quality of food resources are major determinants of group size and mobility, thereby influencing the
relative costs and benefits of available options, and determining specific social systems. Planktivorous and corallivorous
butterflyfishes exemplify the relationship between food resources and social systems. Pelagic plankton is a patchy, but temporally
and spatially unpredictable food resource which is efficiently exploited by fish in mobile schools. Neither sex is able to
monopolize food resources necessary for the other sex, and plantivorous butterflyfishes appear constrained to spawn in groups.
In contrast, corals are stable and predictable in space and time, favoring residence in one area and territorial defense of
that space by coral-feeding butterflyfishes. Females defend food resources from other females, and males defend territories
containing a female from other males. Males attempt to defend areas containing more than one female, but are unsuccessful.
A monogamous social system results. This system favors the evolution of cooperative behavior between mates to increase female
fecundity, as long as the male has an opportunity of sharing in that reproduction. Mate removal experiments conducted on two
monogamous coral-feeding species,Chaetodon multicinctus andChaetodon quadrimaculatus reveal a division of labor between male and female pair-mates. Paired males assume most of the territorial defense activities,
allowing their mates to feed more. |
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Keywords: | Behavior Chaetodontidae Cooperation Coral reef fish Food resources Mating system Monogamy Plankton Reproduction |
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