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Document Type

Article

DOI

10.25778/xxrf-3z78

Abstract

Spawning behavior in Hemitremia flammea (Flame chub) is described from observations made in the field and laboratory. Spawning in the field occurred over clean gravel (size range=18-25 mm) at water temperatures from 12.8-14.4 C. Spawning in the laboratory occurred over clean gravel (11.3 mm) at water temperatures from 18.3-20 C. Males often pursued females and nudged their vents with their snouts. When the female settled to the substrate, a male moved forward and aligned himself alongside her body. Then the female moved slightly forward accompanied by the male and the pair vibrated their caudal peduncles and tails. The spawn ended as the male quickly flexed his caudal peduncle and caudal fin laterally toward the quivering caudal peduncle and caudal fin of the female. The male’s flexed caudal area did not cross over but contacted the side of the female’s quivering caudal peduncle, which sometimes became arched slightly upwards. Aspects of spawning behavior (males pursuing and nudging vents of females, females selecting sites for spawning, pair alignment, males vibrating caudal fin and peduncle) in H. flammea is similar to that described for Couesius plumbeus but differs significantly from that of Semotilus atromaculatus, a species in the hypothesized sister group of H. flammea.

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