TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR OF JUVENILE CRIMSON SEA BREAM EVYNNIS-JAPONICA AT MUROTE COVE IN EHIME PREFECTURE

Behavioural characters of the juvenile crimson sea bream, Evynnis japonica, were studied in a nursery ground by scuba diving observation in the summer, 1993. Two distributional types were distinguished: solitary and aggregation. Every solitary individual formed a feeding territory and showed strong aggressive behaviour toward conspecifics and juveniles of goat fish, but the behaviour toward a closely related species, Pagrus major, was not so strong as toward conspecifics. It was suggested on the basis of the observation of their behaviours in the field that the interrelationships between juveniles of E. japonica and P. major are not so intimate as have been supposed and their competitive interaction is not strong.