 A species is semelparous if its individuals spawn only once in their lifetime, and iteroparous if its individuals spawn more than once.The term semelparity comes from the Latin "semel", once, and "pario", to beget, while iteroparity comes from "itero", to repeat, and "pario", to beget.Semelparity is sometimes called "big bang" reproduction, since the single reproductive event of semelparous organisms is usually large and fatal to the spawners.