Abstract
Egg masses of Xiphister atropurpureus (Kittlitz) and X. mucosus (Girard) are tended by a single adult male wrapped closely around the mass. Males tend up to three egg masses at once. It is suggested that males only tend egg masses that they have fertilized. Comparison of egg numbers in spawned masses and in ovaries of gravid females, together with the observation of complete egg extrusion by spent females, demonstrates that each mass comprises the entire annual egg output of a female. Therefore, during a season a male may repeatedly spawn with different females.
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