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Size, age, and social control of protogynous sex change in the labrid fish Pteragogus aurigarius

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Abstract

The labrid fish Pteragogus aurigarius undergoes protogynous (female-to-male) sex change, with dichromatic and dimorphic differences in sexes. Similar to some other protogynous fishes, this species is polygynous. We report the size and age at which sex change occurs by monthly sampling fishes at Tateyama, central Japan, from 2011 to 2012, and investigate conditions of sex change in rearing experiments from 2013 to 2015. Sexual phases are determined using gonad histology, and ages by otolith analysis. Of 231 sampled specimens, 99 were female, 129 were male, and three were intersexual. Of males, 86 resembled typical males, and are referred to as “normal males (NM)”, and 43 resembled females in color, which we refer to as “males with female appearance (MFA)”. NM sizes exceeded those of female, intersexual and MFA individuals. Because intersexual and MFA individuals did not differ in color or size, they may have recently transitioned to being male. Intersexual and MFA individuals ranged 85–135 mm in total length and 1–3 years in age, and appeared from September to March. Because the spawning season runs from June to September, sex change must occur afterwards. Sex change occurred in solitary females, and larger females held with other females in aquaria, both with and without aquarium partitions. Size hierarchy in social groups may be important for sex change of the largest female to male regardless of the number of individuals present.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to A Murase, S Sakaida, S Tomatsu, M Sasaki, Y Yokokawa and all other members of the Laboratory of Fish Behavioral Ecology for their assistance throughout this study. We thank S O’Shea from Edanz Group (https://en-author-services.edanzgroup.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript. This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants to T Sunobe (no. 16K07507) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Fish Behavioral Ecology, Tateyama Station, Field Science Center, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 670 Banda, Tateyama, Chiba, 294-0308, Japan

    Shota Shimizu, Shuta Endo, Satomi Kihara & Tomoki Sunobe

  2. Tokyo Sea Life Park, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, 134-8587, Japan

    Shuta Endo

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  1. Shota Shimizu
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  2. Shuta Endo
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  3. Satomi Kihara
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  4. Tomoki Sunobe
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Correspondence to Tomoki Sunobe.

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Shimizu, S., Endo, S., Kihara, S. et al. Size, age, and social control of protogynous sex change in the labrid fish Pteragogus aurigarius. Ichthyol Res 69, 75–81 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-021-00815-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-021-00815-4

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