Goldsworthy, Nisha C., Srinivasan, Maya, Smallhorn-West, Patrick, Cheah, Lit-Chien, Munday, Philip L., and Jones, Geoffrey P. (2022) Life-history constraints, short adult life span and reproductive strategies in coral reef gobies of the genus Trimma. Journal of Fish Biology, 101 (4). pp. 996-1007.

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Abstract

Body size influences many life-history traits, with small-bodied animals tending to have short life spans, high mortality and greater reproductive effort early in life. In this study, the authors investigated the life-history traits and reproductive strategies of three small-bodied coral reef gobies of the genus Trimma: Trimma benjamini, Trimma capostriatum and Trimma yanoi. The authors found all Trimma species studied attained a small body size of <25 mm, had a short life span of <140 days and experienced high estimated daily mortality of 3.0%–6.7%. Furthermore, the pelagic larval phase accounted for 25.3%–28.5% of the maximum life span, and maturation occurred between 74.1 and 82.1 days at 15.2–15.8 mm, leaving only 35%–43% of the total life span as a reproductively viable adult. All mature individuals had gonad structures consistent with bidirectional sex change, with bisexual gonads including both ovarian and testicular portions separated by a thin wall of connective tissue. In the female and male phases, only ovaries or testes were mature, whereas gonadal tissue of the non-active sex remained. One T. benjamini individual and one T. yanoi individual had ovarian and testicular tissue active simultaneously. The results of this study highlight the life-history challenges small CRFs face on their path to reproduction and reproductive strategies that could be beneficial in fishes with high and unpredictable mortality and short reproductive life spans.

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