ROSS and MERRINER: REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF BLUELINE TILEFISH 



503 mm TL and 13 males 503-562 mm TL (Ross un- 

 publ. data). The sex ratio for anchor tilefish, C. 

 intermedius, off Texas is 66 females: 5 males between 

 100 and 270 mm TL, and females: 8 males >270 

 mm TL (Ross, Pavela, and Chittenden unpubl. data). 

 Dooley (1978) reported anomalous sex ratios forL. 

 chameleonticeps, H. wardi, andB. serratus. Clark and 

 Ben-Tuvia (1973) reported pairs of Malacanthus 

 hoedtii outside burrows including a large male and a 

 smaller female. Prematurational sex reversal is also 

 suspected of the tilefish, L. chameleonticeps, based 

 on juvenile gonadal histology and adult sex ratio data 

 (Grimes footnote 4). 



Prematurational sex reversal in C. microps is likely a 

 regression from monandric protogyny to functional 

 gonochorism. The size-advantage model, which at- 

 tributes protogyny to cases where an individual re- 

 produces most efficiently as a female when young 

 and a male when it gets older (Ghiselin 1969) is 

 generally applicable when such things as inexper- 

 ience, male dominance, mate selection, or terri- 

 toriality lead to a differential in male reproductive 

 success at older ages (Warner 1975b). Caulolatilids 

 presumably evolved in the Caribbean and are often 

 associated with reef- type habitat (Dooley 1978) 

 where protogyny is widespread (Choat and 

 Robertson 1975; Smith 1975; Warner 1975a, b). A 

 radiation of C. microps (or ancestor) in the 

 evolutionary past from a reef-type environment to 

 more extensive outer continental shelf and upper 

 slope habitats may have reduced the selection pres- 

 sure favoring protogyny. The increase in utilizable 

 habitat and more continuous distribution would 

 allow more frequent opportunities for smaller males 

 to engage in spawning, hence favoring sex reversal at 

 an earlier age and ultimately tending toward second- 

 ary gonochorism. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We wish to thank Gene Huntsman and the staff at 

 the Southeast Fisheries Center Beaufort Labora- 

 tory, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 

 Beaufort, N.C., for allowing access to their facilities 

 and data, and particularly Robert Dixon, Charles 

 Manooch, Pete Parker, Doug Willis (NMFS), 

 Churchill Grimes (Rutgers University), and Robert 

 Matheson (Duke University) for their assistance with 

 field collections and enlightening discussions. We 

 also thank the late Patricia Berry (Virginia Institute 

 of Marine Science (VIMS)) for histological pre- 

 parations, Ken Thornberry and Bill Jenkins (VIMS) 

 for photographic assistance, and Joe Scott (College 

 of William and Mary) for use of photomicroscopic 



equipment. Robert Karl Johnson (Field Museum of 

 Natural History) and Frank Schwartz (Institute of 

 Marine Science, University of North Carolina) kindly 

 provided juvenile specimens. Finally Gene Hunts- 

 man, George Sedberry, and John Olney contributed 

 much in their review of this and earlier versions of 

 the manuscript. 



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