NEWS106
30
Odontanthiasborbonius
,a jewelmeasuringup to15cm long.This fish livesatgreatdepths.
TheMediterraneananthias (
Anthiasanthias
) isgorgeous,albeit coldwater,species.
end itasmales.Theyarehermaphrodites,and
specieswith thisorderof sexchangeare ter-
medprotogynous,whileahermaphroditethat
starts lifeasamaleandthenchanges intoafe-
male is termedprotandrous.Hermaphrodites
that are simultaneouslymaleand femaleare
termedfunctionalhermaphrodites,butthisoc-
cursonly fairly rarely.The rationaleofprotogy-
noushermaphroditism isobvious.Onemale
canfertilizetheeggsofnumerousfemales.Be-
cause the likelihoodof survival constantlyde-
creasestheolderanindividualbecomes,inpro-
togynoushermaphrodites it issufficient if just
one individualoutofmanymakes ittobeinga
male.Thesurvivalof thespecies isguaranteed
nonetheless.Hence fish species thatpractice
protandroushermaphroditismareencounte-
redonlycomparativelyrarely.
Life inaharem
Theaverage shoal of anthiasalways consists
offarfewermalesthanfemales.Themalesdis-
play vigorously among themselves,but this
hardlyever leadstoharmfulbattlesandserves
more toshow the femaleswhat splendid fel-
lows they are. As it is usually the females
among these fishes thatdecidewhichmale
theywanttomatewith.
If youhave theopportunity thenyou should
obtainoneorseveralmales (naturallythisde-
pendson thesizeof theaquarium)and three
tofivefemalespermale.Unfortunately,howe-
ver,malesareexportedmore frequently than
