Protogyny in a tropical damselfish: females queue for future benefit.

ABSTRACT: Membership of the group is a balance between the benefits associated with group living and the cost of socially constrained growth and breeding opportunities, but the costs and benefits are seldom examined. The goal of the present study was to explore the trade-offs associated with group living for a sex-changing, potentially protogynous coral reef fish, the Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis. Extensive sampling showed that the species exhibits resource defence polygyny, where dominant males guard a nest site that is visited by females. P. amboinensis have a longevity of about 6.5 years on the northern Great Barrier Reef. While the species can change sex consistent with being a protogynous hermaphrodite, it is unclear the extent to which the species uses this capability. Social grou

SUBMITTER: McCormick MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4933090 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature