Protogyny in Fishes

Sakai, Yoichi

doi:10.1007/978-981-19-6095-6_4

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 167 publications

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“…reticulatus is a protogynous hermaphrodite that can change sex from female to male (Asoh, 2005;Sakanoue & Sakai, 2022;Schwarz & Smith, 1990;Tanaka, 1999). During protogynous sex change, females stop their reproductive function for days or several weeks to rebuild their gonads (review in Sakai, 2022). However, in this experiment, female individuals of D. reticulatus that exhibited egg-caring behaviors maintained their reproductive function as females producing thousands of eggs, indicating that they did not undergo sex change into males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…D. reticulatus is a protogynous hermaphrodite that can change sex from female to male (Asoh, 2005; Sakanoue & Sakai, 2022; Schwarz & Smith, 1990; Tanaka, 1999). During protogynous sex change, females stop their reproductive function for days or several weeks to rebuild their gonads (review in Sakai, 2022). However, in this experiment, female individuals of D .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The coral-dwelling damselfish, Dascyllus reticulatus (Richardson 1846) (Pomacentridae), occurs in the subtropical and tropical waters of the eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific (Allen, 1991;Godwin, 1995). In nature, males maintain haremic colony groups and conduct pair spawning with females (Sakanoue & Sakai, 2019, 2022. This damselfish is monandrically protogynous; that is, all males are derived from females that changed sex (Sakanoue & Sakai, 2022;Schwarz & Smith, 1990; but see Asoh, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sex change of females is socially controlled by dominant males of local colony groups (Sakanoue & Sakai, 2022). After laying eggs, males alone guard and care for the eggs at the nest until they hatch (Sakanoue & Sakai, 2019, 2022Tanaka, 1999). The males exhibit egg-caring behaviors, including "mouthing behavior," in which they gently touch the eggs with their mouths to remove defective eggs and debris, and "fanning behavior," in which they agitate the water around the eggs with their caudal and pectoral fins (Allen, 1991;Tanaka, 1999;Thresher, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present study, we examined the potential of alternative egg-guarding care in female D. reticulatus through rearing experiments. In both captive and natural conditions for mating pairs of D. reticulatus, female caretaking behaviors have never been observed when males are present (Sakanoue & Sakai, 2019, 2022Schwarz & Smith, 1990;Tanaka, 1999). This is partially because egg-guarding males often drive females out of their nests after spawning (Schwarz & Smith, 1990;Tanaka, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The potential for egg‐guarding care in females of the damselfish, Dascyllus reticulatus, in the absence of uniparental male care

Sakai,

Muranaka,

Nakayama

et al. 2023

Journal of Fish Biology

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Male damselfish typically demonstrate uniparental egg‐guarding care in nature. Potential plasticity in sexual behavior has recently been reported in various teleost fish. To examine behavioral plasticity in parental care, we conducted aquarium experiments to explore the potential for egg‐guarding care in the female damselfish, Dascyllus reticulatus. After initial caretaking, males were removed from the mating nests, and cohabiting females frequently exhibited egg predation on the same day. However, we confirmed that females showed significantly decreased egg‐predation frequencies on the following day and showed egg‐caring behaviors. All experimental females guarded their eggs until they hatched. Females subsequently spawned eggs as females even after performing parental care behaviors, indicating no progression of sex change into males. Molecular analysis of select pituitary gland hormones indicated that egg‐caring females and males showed high expression levels of prolactin, suggesting its involvement in the development of parental care behaviors. The cryptic possession of caretaking ability in females may be a tactical response to the need for temporary replacement of the care roles in cases where caretaking males are removed, for example, through predation, in damselfish species living in sexually cohabiting groups.

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