Aggregating behavior of the grass puffer, Takifugu niphobles, observed in aquarium during the spawning period

Abstract

The grass puffer (Takifugu niphobles) exhibits unique spawning behavior. Large numbers of fish aggregate to coastal spawning beds several hours before high tide during the spring tide. In order to examine the environmental and physiological regulation of this semilunar-synchronized spawning rhythm, the aggregating and spawning behaviors of the grass puffer were observed in the field, and in an aquarium without tidal changes. The fish aggregated to a spawning bed in the rising tidal phases both in the morning and evening during the spring tide, and several days after the spring tide. Spawning occurred on several days when large numbers of fish (200-1000) aggregated to the spawning bed. The timing of aggregation and spawning was tightly connected to the tidal changes; aggregation occurred 2-3 h before high tide, and spawning occurred 2 h before high tide. In the aquarium, in which a slope was constructed with pebbles, small groups of mature fish aggregated on the slope only in the rising tidal phases during and after the spring tide, when the fish aggregated in the field. However, there was no spawning in the aquarium. The aggregating behavior observed in the aquarium without tidal changes suggests that the semilunar reproductive rhythm is endogenously maintained with surprising precision during the spawning period in grass puffer. © 2010 Zoological Society of Japan.