Multispecies spawning sites for fishes on a low-latitude coral reef: spatial and temporal patterns

• Published in: Journal of fish biology 2014-04, Vol.84 (4), p.1136-1163
• Main Authors: Claydon, J. A. B., McCormick, M. I., Jones, G. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Migration; Animals; Coral Reefs; Ctenochaetus striatus; Fish; Fishes - physiology; Moon; Papua New Guinea; pelagic spawning; Periodicity; Pisces; Reproduction - physiology; resident; Seasons; spatial distribution; Spatio-Temporal Analysis; spawning aggregation; Tidal Waves; transient
• ISSN: 0022-1112; 1095-8649
• DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12355

Spawning sites used by one or more species were located by intensively searching nearshore coral reefs of Kimbe Bay (New Britain, Papua New Guinea). Once identified, the spawning sites were surveyed repeatedly within fixed 5 m radius circular areas, for  > 2000 h of observations ranging from before dawn to after dusk spanning 190 days between July 2001 and May 2004. A total of 38 spawning sites were identified on the seven study reefs distributed at an average of one site every 60 m of reef edge. Pelagic spawning was observed in 41 fish species from six families. On three intensively studied reefs, all 17 spawning sites identified were used by at least three species, with a maximum of 30 different species observed spawning at a single site. Spawning was observed during every month of the study, on all days of the lunar month, at all states of the tide and at most hours of the day studied. Nevertheless, the majority of species were observed spawning on proportionately more days from December to April, on more days around the new moon and in association with higher tides. The strongest temporal association, however, was with species‐specific diel spawning times spanning