Abstract
In May 11th, 1973, 399 specimens of Stethojulis were collected in Suruga Bay, ofwhich 33 showed color phase of S.interrupta and 366 that of S.kalosoma.In anaquarium, 312 specimens with“kalosoma”pattern were kept at the water temperature18.3-25.1°C.Some of them changed their color pattern to“interrupta”phase, within10 days.Among 312 specimens, 54 (42 died, 12 alive) changed to S.interrupta phaseand 258 remained in“kalosoma”phase (187 died, 71 alive), by July 31, 1973.Duringthe color change, certain specimens took on color patterns resembling S.“trossula”.It was found that individuals of“kalosoma”phase included female, male and indeterminables, whereas those of“interrupta”phase were all males.On the basis ofmorphological characters and color patterns, it was concluded that S.kalosoma andS.trossula are junior synonyms of S.interrupta, and represent different color phasein the course of the sex reversal from female to male.
