I am sorry, but somehow I missed this article, which came out in March.
Stefano Malavasi, Patrizia Torricelli, Marco Lugli, Fabio Pranovi, Danilo
Mainardi (2003): Male Courtship Sounds in a Teleost with Alternative
Reproductive Tactics, the Grass Goby, Zosterisessor ophiocephalus.
Environmental Biology of Fishes, 66(3), 231-236.
Abstract: Male grass gobies show two alternative breeding tactics,
territorial and sneaker, distinguished by body size and difference in ray
elongation on the second dorsal fin. The larger males, with elongated fins,
are territorial and emit sounds during courtship. Smaller males, without
elongated fins, act as sneakers. Both large and small males produce sounds
in the presence of a ripe female. Males produce a grunt, lasting about 300
ms, made up of pulses repeated at a low rate (22-68 pps). Pulse duration,
number, and repetition rate, did not differ between the two male types, but
dominant frequency and sound amplitude did. Dominant frequency had a strong,
inverse relationship with body size, whereas sound amplitude showed a weak
positive relation to body size. Male size, and not the particular
reproductive male tactic employed, is the most important correlate of sound
properties in this species.
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Mag. Sonja Amoser
Institute of Zoology, University of Vienna
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
phone: +43-1-4277-54467 oder -54515
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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