A new study, led by Prof. Pablo Saenz-Agudelo at the Austral University of Chile, reveals the importance of large females, and stable breeding pairs, to a population of panda clownfish (Amphiprion polymnus) in Bootless Bay, Papua New Guinea. Newly-settled juveniles were assigned to parents in the focal population using DNA parentage analysis. We found that large females do indeed contribute disproportionately to local population replenishment, providing further support for efforts to protect large females within fished populations. And interestingly, stable breeding pairs were also more successful than new pairs in which the original male had died. Read more here:
Photo Serge Planes
The Fish Ecology Lab 