Reproductive periodicity of the sparid, Acanthopagrus pacificus, on a hierarchy of temporal scales

Abstract

The reproductive periodicity of the sparid, Acanthopagrus pacificus, over four temporal scales is described. Acanthopagrus pacificus had a short spawning season between June and September, and within this, a peak reproductive period from July to early September. During the peak period there were several spawning peaks corresponding to a lunar periodicity, with intense reproductive activity on new and full moons that peaked during the period of the full moon when the tidal range was greatest. At the smallest temporal scale, spawning occurred at night on ebb tides. Because this study draws on data collected in 1991 and 1995, it provides a useful baseline against which to judge future changes in reproductive periodicity.

Mating behaviour and gamete release in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata, Linnaeus 1758) held in captivity

“…In the present study, the spawning activity took place midmorning, which was actually initiated 42 ± 8 min after the lights switched on and can be considered similar to previous studies that established that gilthead seabream and others sparid fish such as silver seabream (Sparus sarba), Pacific seabream (Acanthopagrus pacificus), yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis), red seabream (Pagrus major) and black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) tend to spawn at sunset or early in the morning (Pollock, 1982;Matsuyama et al, 1988;Mihelakakis & Kitajima, 1995;Haddy & Pankhurst, 1998;Meseguer et al, 2008;Sheaves & Molony, 2013). In the present study, spawning was successfully and regularly obtained and presented a prolonged spawning season (up to 5 months).…”

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

“…While Colin & Bell (1991) and this study used necessarily coarse measures of spawning activity, more pronounced patterns of spawning periodicity may be revealed by measuring spawning intensity [i.e. number of spawns at a site per unit time; Ross (1983); Sancho et al (2000)] and gonado-somatic indices (West, 1990;Bushnell et al, 2010;Sheaves & Molony, 2013) as well as looking at the behaviour of individuals (Zeller, 1998;Starr et al, 2007) rather than spawning groups as a whole.…”

Spawning time of black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii, related to underwater photoperiodism in oyster farms

“…The Pacific sea bream Acanthopagrus pacificus and goldsilk sea bream Acanthopagrus berda , two closely related species of A. schlegelii , spawn within estuaries mostly during an ebbing spring tide (Garratt, 1993; Sheaves & Molony, 2013). In contrast, the authors could not observe a relationship between the reproductive rhythm of A. schlegelii and the tidal rhythm in Hiroshima Bay.…”

“…Nonetheless, the reproductive rhythms and external factors related to spawning timing in the natural environment have not yet been uncovered. Previous studies report that tidal change affects spawning timing in Acanthopagrus species (Garratt, 1993;Sheaves & Molony, 2013). In other marine fishes, the relation between spawning timing and photoperiodism has been studied (Jackson et al, 2006;Kadota & Sakai, 2016;Ricci et al, 2017;Sakurai et al, 2003).…”