Tropical reef fish spawning aggregations: defined and reviewed

摘要

The formation of spawning aggregations at specific locations and times is a common mode of reproduction for species in some tropical reef fish families. A spawning aggregation was broadly defined as a gathering of conspecific fish, for the purposes of spawning, that consisted of fish densities significantly higher than are found during the non-reproductive period, or for fishes that normally occur in dense schools, must occur in significantly greater number and take up significantly more space. Two spawning aggregation types, resident and transient, were defined and applied to examples in the literature.