85
Y. Sadovy de Mitcheson and P.L. Colin (eds.), Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations:
Biology, Research and Management, Fish & Fisheries Series 35,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1980-4_4, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract What factors have been important in the evolution of reef fi sh spawning
aggregations? Surprisingly, basic biological features such as size, trophic ecology
and anatomy are more predictive than life history features. As long as the different
groups (Resident and Transient aggregators) shared basic properties of body size,
nutritional ecology and anatomy they manifest similar spawning behaviours regardless of whether they are protogynous or gonochoristic, exhibit short or long generation
times or have slow or fast population turnover rates. A critical element in the evolution of spawning aggregations is proposed to be the rapid advection of eggs and
larvae away from the reef environment. In addition the timing of spawning episodes
may be linked to specifi c seasonal and climatic features of the ocean environment,
a variant of the match/mismatch hypothesis developed to explain spawning patterns
in clupeoid fi shes. Neither larval retention nor broad dispersal are seen as critical
elements in the evolution of spawning aggregations. It is hypothesized that differences in aggregate spawning patterns and their underlying processes will occur in
the Pacifi c and Atlantic oceans, a refl ection of the different histories, oceanic environments and habitat structures of these two ocean basins.
4.1 Introduction
Spawning aggregations occur in a wide range of fi sh species distributed over a variety
of marine habitats. Marine fi shes are diverse, (Table 4.1 ) comprising over half the
known species of vertebrates (Nelson 2006 ) and occur in a wide range of marine
J. H. Choat (*)
School of Marine and Tropical Biology , James Cook University , Townsville ,
Qld 4811 , Australia
e-mail: john.choat@jcu.edu.au
Chapter 4
Spawning Aggregations in Reef Fishes;
Ecological and Evolutionary Processes
John Howard Choat
Y. Sadovy de Mitcheson and P.L. Colin (eds.), Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations:
Biology, Research and Management, Fish & Fisheries Series 35,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1980-4_4, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract What factors have been important in the evolution of reef fi sh spawning
aggregations? Surprisingly, basic biological features such as size, trophic ecology
and anatomy are more predictive than life history features. As long as the different
groups (Resident and Transient aggregators) shared basic properties of body size,
nutritional ecology and anatomy they manifest similar spawning behaviours regardless of whether they are protogynous or gonochoristic, exhibit short or long generation
times or have slow or fast population turnover rates. A critical element in the evolution of spawning aggregations is proposed to be the rapid advection of eggs and
larvae away from the reef environment. In addition the timing of spawning episodes
may be linked to specifi c seasonal and climatic features of the ocean environment,
a variant of the match/mismatch hypothesis developed to explain spawning patterns
in clupeoid fi shes. Neither larval retention nor broad dispersal are seen as critical
elements in the evolution of spawning aggregations. It is hypothesized that differences in aggregate spawning patterns and their underlying processes will occur in
the Pacifi c and Atlantic oceans, a refl ection of the different histories, oceanic environments and habitat structures of these two ocean basins.
4.1 Introduction
Spawning aggregations occur in a wide range of fi sh species distributed over a variety
of marine habitats. Marine fi shes are diverse, (Table 4.1 ) comprising over half the
known species of vertebrates (Nelson 2006 ) and occur in a wide range of marine
J. H. Choat (*)
School of Marine and Tropical Biology , James Cook University , Townsville ,
Qld 4811 , Australia
e-mail: john.choat@jcu.edu.au
Chapter 4
Spawning Aggregations in Reef Fishes;
Ecological and Evolutionary Processes
John Howard Choat