Data for: Environmental conditions and paternal care determine the synchronous hatching of coral reef fish larvae

For all fishes, hatching is a short but crucial event and the conditions under which it occurs considerably influence the success of the larvae. For coral reef fish, hatching is even more important because it marks the beginning of the dispersal phase. The timing of hatching dictates the conditions that the larvae will encounter, potentially influencing their survival and dispersal. Despite this importance, very few studies looked at hatching of marine fishes in the natural environment because of important technical constrains. In this study we directly examined the temporal pattern of hatching during the night. Using remote night vision cameras and infrared lights to avoid disturbances, we successfully document in situ hatching events of three coral reef fish species, all benthic brooders (Abudefduf saxatilis, Stegastes partitus, and Elacatinus lori). Hatching timing, rate and duration were computed from the observations and highlight different hatching strategies used by the fish species. The analysis of the fish behaviors shows that the males display parental cares beyond the incubation period of the eggs and increase activity during the hatching events. With this study, we can relate the hatching events to the environmental context, giving us a better understanding of the factors influencing the beginning of the larval phase. These observations highlight the benefit of in situ studies to better understand the characteristics and potential consequences of hatching. This dataset contains video examples of the hatching events for the three species and the data extracted from the videos for the analysis of the hatching rates and the paternal care behaviors.对于所有鱼类而言，孵化虽是短暂过程，却是至关重要的生命节点，其发生时的环境条件会极大影响幼体的存活成功率。对于珊瑚礁鱼类（coral reef fish）而言，孵化的重要性更甚，因为它标志着扩散阶段的开端。孵化时机决定了幼体即将面临的环境条件，进而可能影响其存活与扩散能力。尽管孵化具有如此重要的学术与生态意义，但受限于诸多技术瓶颈，目前针对自然环境中海洋鱼类孵化行为的研究仍寥寥无几。本研究直接观测了夜间孵化的时间模式：研究团队借助远程夜视摄像头与红外光源以避免人为干扰，成功原位（in situ）记录了3种底栖护卵类（benthic brooders）鱼类的孵化事件，分别为Abudefduf saxatilis、Stegastes partitus与Elacatinus lori。研究人员通过观测数据计算得到了孵化时机、孵化速率与孵化时长，结果显示这3种鱼类采用了截然不同的孵化策略。对鱼类行为的分析表明，雄性亲鱼会在卵子孵化期之外延续亲代抚育行为，并在孵化事件发生期间提升活动频次。本研究将孵化事件与环境背景相结合，为我们深入理解影响幼体阶段起始的各类因素提供了支撑。这些观测结果凸显了原位研究的核心价值，有助于我们更全面地掌握孵化过程的特征及其潜在生态后果。本数据集包含上述3个物种的孵化事件视频示例，以及从视频中提取的、用于分析孵化速率与父代抚育行为的相关实验数据。