Parental behavior of intertidal fishes of the stichaeid genus Xiphister
- 1 January 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Zoology
- Vol. 55 (1) , 60-63
- https://doi.org/10.1139/z77-006
Abstract
Egg masses of X. atropurpureus (Kittlitz) and X. mucosus (Girard) are tended by a single adult male wrapped closely around the mass. Males tend up to 3 egg masses at once and only tend egg masses that they have fertilized. Comparison of egg numbers in spawned masses and in ovaries of gravid females, together with the observation of complete egg extrusion by spent females, demonstrates that each mass comprises the entire annual egg output of a female. During a season a male may repeatedly spawn with different females.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Seasonal Shifts in the Spawning Site of a Northeast Pacific Intertidal FishJournal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1975