Social structures and spawning behavior of chaetodon butterflyfishes

While some aspects of the biology and ecology of butterflyfishes (family Chaetodontidae) have been very well studied, especially in relation to their vulnerability to coral loss and reef degradation (e.g., Harmelin-Vivien, 1989; Harmelin-Vivien and Bouchon-Navaro, 1983; Graham, 2007; Berumen and Pratchett, 2008; Lawton et al., 2012; Wilson et al., Chapter 9), very little is known about their social structure. Social structures, defined by a whole of interactions and relationships between individuals, such as aggression, mating system, territoriality, social grouping, social bonds, care of offspring, division of labor, and so on (Hinde, 1982), are critically important in understanding the evolution and ecology of species, and have important ramifications for the structure and dynamics of populations and communities. Marine fishes are renowned for their diversity of social structures, ranging from monogamous mating between gonochoric individuals to complex polygamous mating systems often involving simultaneous or sequential hermaphrodites (Cole, 2010), both within and among families.