• Development and Reproduction
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2006

We reviewed sex-change patterns in the wrasses Halichoeres poecilopterus, H. tenuispinis, Pteragogus flagellifer, and Pseudolabrus sieboldi inhabiting the coastal waters of Jeju, Korea, based on the sex distribution according to standard length and sex characteristics of the gonads. Halichoeres poecilopterus, H. tenuispinis, Pt. flagellifer, and Ps. sieboldi are protogynous hermaphroditic fish. Histological observations revealed that these wrasses are undelimited type 2 species because testicular tissue(spermatogenesis area) appears in most parts of the gonads during ovary of degenerative stage. Both initial- and terminal-phase males were present in the investigated populations, indicating that Halichoeres poecilopterus, H. tenuispinis, and Ps. sieboldi are of the diandric type. In contrast, Pt. flagellifer is considered a monandric type, because all males in the investigated populations were terminal-phase males produced via sex change from functional females.