Animal Species With Males Caring for Young Damselfishes

About the behavior of animal species where males care for the young including damselfishes.

10 ANIMAL SPECIES IN WHICH THE MALE CARES FOR THE YOUNG

6. DAMSELFISHES

Males defend individual territories on the bottom of coral reefs. Females swim overhead in small schools, whereupon males perform courtship displays after which a female may detach herself from the school to deposit 20,000 to 25,000 eggs in the chosen male's territory. He fertilizes the eggs, then spends a week or so defending them against predators, until they hatch and the fry become independent. The female, meanwhile, has returned to the school of females and has had nothing to do with her eggs or offspring.