Post by creature386 on Aug 21, 2013 21:26:46 GMT 5
Ambon Damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis)
Two mature males. One has the eye spot, the other doesn't.[1]
Cladistic:
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Perciformes
Pomacentridae
Pomacentrus
P. amboinensis
Description:
The ambon damselfish is a very common damselfish in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.[2] They form social groups, consisting of adult and juvenile animals. There is one dominant male, surrounded by females of all ages. Each dominant male has it's own territory, which it defends. Females stay close to dominant males, because their territories, their survival rate is four times higher than in other areas.
All juvenile specimen are females, but they can later change their gender. Most specimen also loose their eyespots while maturing, but not all do so. Some male specimen keep their eyespots for looking like a juvenile (=a female). Like that they can swim in the territory of another male, without getting attacked and their life is safer.[3] For facilitating the camouflage, the males also have a quite similar body shape to females/juveniles.[4] The percentage of mature males among specimen with an eyespot is very high (25%).[1]
Another reason for keeping the eyespots can be for defense. When juvenile ambon damselfishes live together with predators for some time, they start getting larger eyespots,[5] because they are helpful for confusing predators.[6] They also get deeper bodies, as a defense against predators with a small gape.[5]
Literature:
Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) Spot the Difference: Mimicry in a Coral Reef Fish. In: PLoS ONE 8(2) p. 1-7 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055938
Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) Predator-induced changes in the growth of eyes and false eyespots In: Scientific Reports 3: 2259. doi:10.1038%2Fsrep02259
Footnotes:
[1] Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) p. 3
[2] Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) p. 4
[3] Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) p. 1
[4] Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) p. 4
[5] Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) p. 2
[6] Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) p. 1
Two mature males. One has the eye spot, the other doesn't.[1]
Cladistic:
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Perciformes
Pomacentridae
Pomacentrus
P. amboinensis
Description:
The ambon damselfish is a very common damselfish in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.[2] They form social groups, consisting of adult and juvenile animals. There is one dominant male, surrounded by females of all ages. Each dominant male has it's own territory, which it defends. Females stay close to dominant males, because their territories, their survival rate is four times higher than in other areas.
All juvenile specimen are females, but they can later change their gender. Most specimen also loose their eyespots while maturing, but not all do so. Some male specimen keep their eyespots for looking like a juvenile (=a female). Like that they can swim in the territory of another male, without getting attacked and their life is safer.[3] For facilitating the camouflage, the males also have a quite similar body shape to females/juveniles.[4] The percentage of mature males among specimen with an eyespot is very high (25%).[1]
Another reason for keeping the eyespots can be for defense. When juvenile ambon damselfishes live together with predators for some time, they start getting larger eyespots,[5] because they are helpful for confusing predators.[6] They also get deeper bodies, as a defense against predators with a small gape.[5]
Literature:
Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) Spot the Difference: Mimicry in a Coral Reef Fish. In: PLoS ONE 8(2) p. 1-7 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055938
Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) Predator-induced changes in the growth of eyes and false eyespots In: Scientific Reports 3: 2259. doi:10.1038%2Fsrep02259
Footnotes:
[1] Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) p. 3
[2] Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) p. 4
[3] Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) p. 1
[4] Gagliano M and Depczynski M (2013) p. 4
[5] Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) p. 2
[6] Oona M. Lönnstedt, Mark I. McCormick and Douglas P. Chivers (2013) p. 1