Mortality is a fundamental demographic rate, the nature of which has p
rofound consequences for both the dynamics of populations and the life
-history evolution of species. For example, if per capita mortality ra
tes are age-or stage-specific, life-history traits should evolve in re
sponse to age-and stage-specific differences in selection arising from
these temporally variable rates. Similarly, variation in the average
mortality rate across ages and/or stages can also select for shifts in
life history. Mortality rates of recently sealed reef fishes can be v
ery high and per capita mortality is commonly assumed to decrease with
increasing age. A review of evidence for age-specific per capita mort
ality rates in reef fishes from early postsettlement up to 13 months p
ostsettlement suggests that during this period these rates are often a
ge invariant. The data on which these interpretations are based, howev
er, are extremely limited both in terms of the proportion of the life
cycle over which mortality rates have been sampled and the quality of
these data. Nonetheless, these data do suggest that selective pressure
s associated with patterns of mortality may vary among species of reef
fishes and that these species therefore could be more effectively use
d in the study of life-history evolution. At present, reef fishes are
under-represented in the study of life-history evolution compared with
other vertebrate taxa.