Evenly dispersed social groups and intergroup competition for juveniles in a coral-reef fish

Abstract

A model based on current knowledge of recruitment of settling juveniles of coral-reef fishes suggests that adult social groups far removed from their nearest neighbors can expect to attract larger numbers of juveniles than groups that are close to nearest neighbors. For protogynous fishes in which females change to males when intragroup, female-to-male sex ratios rise above threshold values, selection should favor individuals occupying groups that attract many juveniles. The model predicts that social groups should, in consequence, be regularly dispersed and that, in effect, groups compete with each other to attract juveniles. Dispersion of social groups was measured in two populations of the protogynous fish Anthias squamipinnis. The location of all groups were plotted on maps of the reef. A set of nearest-neighbor analyses applied to the data all showed significant departures of observed nearest-neighbor distances from randomness, in the direction of regularity. At both sites, neighboring groups were separated by much unoccupied space. In one population, the substrate consisted of discrete coral aggregates scattered over open sand bottom, while in the second population groups occupied a relatively continuous vertical reef face. Although regular dispersion could, in theory, result from regular distribution of food patches, current evidence does not favor this explanation. It is more likely that regular dispersion results either from the reproductive advantage of occupying groups that are highly attractive to juveniles, as seen in the model, or from limited perceptual and locomotor abilities of juveniles at the time of settlement.