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CARDINALFISH Male cardinalfish of all shapes and sizes, from Asia to Arabia to the Caribbean, are mouthbrooders. After fertilisation, the female produces a clutch of eggs and when about threequarters of the mass protrudes from the female, the male takes them in his mouth. This happens in seconds. The male then broods them in his mouth for up to 30 days, without even eating, while the eggs develop.
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COMMENSAL SHRIMP The eggs are held on the abdomen of the female until they reach enough maturity to hatch and become part of the plankton. Hatching, as with many egg reproduction cycles, takes place in the dark so as to minimise the risk of being seen and eaten by predators.
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BOXER SHRIMP These colourful guys are cleaners, often seen skittering around moray eel mouths dispensing with parasites. They live in crevices and cracks and mate for life. The female spawns the eggs about 15 minutes after fertilisation and they sit in a mass on her abdomen for 16 days, hatching under cover of night to elude predators. After hatching, the larvae stay attached to the female for a few weeks before moving out into the plankton stream.
6 SQUID Common squid eggs( Loligo vulgaris) in Cape Wrath, northwest Scotland. The female has attached this distinctive egg cluster to a kelp stem and the surge is sweeping the eggs aside revealing a painted topshell( Calliostoma zizyphinum) attached to the same stem. It can take up to eight weeks for the eggs to hatch if they manage to avoid being eaten by predators.
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MERMAID’ S PURSE Commonly known as a“ mermaid’ s purse”, this egg case has been laid by a small-spotted catshark( Scyliorhinus canicula). This is the most common shark seen by divers in the UK. The capsule contains a single embryo and a baby catshark will emerge after nine months. The egg case has long tendrils which the female wraps around something on the reef to keep it secure. Here, the egg case has been attached to a dead man’ s finger( Alcyonium digitatum).
© Jane Morgan © Jane Morgan