TIMING OF SPAWNING AND FECUNDITY OF A TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL ANEMONEFISH (POMACENTRIDAE, AMPHIPRION) ON A HIGH-LATITUDE REEF ON THE EAST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA

The timing of spawning and fecundity of the anemonefishes Amphiprion l atezonatus Waite and A. akindynos Alien were monitored over a 1 yr per iod at Julian Rocks, a subtropical rocky reef located on the east coas t of Australia. The tropical species A. akindynos had a shorter spawni ng season than the subtropical endemic species A. latezonatus, althoug h peak spawning activity in both species occurred during the warmest t ime of the year. Despite having a shorter spawning season than tropica l congeners, both species had the highest fecundity of anemonefishes s tudied to date. Both species displayed weak lunar spawning periodicity ; A. akindynos had slightly more spawnings in the lunar quarters befor e and after the full moon than the quarters before and after the new m oon, whereas A. latezonatus had significantly fewer spawnings in the l unar quarter before the full moon than during the other 3 lunar quarte rs. The spawning patterns of A. akindynos and A. latezonatus were more similar to A. clarkii in temperate Japan than to congeners in tropica l regions, suggesting that environmental factors associated with high latitude environments may modify the reproductive biology of anemonefi shes.