REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR AND SPAWNING SUCCESS OF FEMALE AMBLYGLYPHIDODONLEUCOGASTER (PISCES, POMACENTRIDAE) FROM THE RED-SEA

The reproductive behavior of female whitebelly damselfish, Amblyglyphi dodon leucogaster, was investigated in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea over two breeding seasons. Females were promiscuous, mating with 7-10 diff erent males throughout the season. Females lay eggs in distinct batche s, defined as the total number of eggs laid in a day. Generally female s deposit a batch of eggs with one male (87.2%) and are capable of lay ing a new batch every other day. Egg batch size averaged 4009 eggs and females laid from 2 to 22 egg batches per season. The variation in sp awning success was not correlated to body size. Females preferred to d eposit eggs in nests that already contained early stage eggs (0-2 days old). Within a nest, females chose to lay eggs contiguous to the youn gest egg batch, regardless if the nest contained either a single batch or multiple batches of different ages. Female within-nest spawning pa tterns appear to be a consequence of between nest preferences for nest s with young eggs. It is proposed that the strong within-nest preferen ce is a consequence of mate selection where females may use new egg ba tches as a visual cue as part of a copying style. Such a style may red uce the risk of predation and increase feeding opportunities, because less time is expended in mate selection, which would provide additiona l resources for egg production and ultimately increase female spawning success over the breeding season.