Bioacoustic articles in Behaviour 144 - 1
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/beh/2007/00000144/00000001
Rollo, A, G Andraso, J Janssen & D Higgs (2007) Attraction and localization
of round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) to conspecific calls. Behaviour 144:
1-21.
Many species of fish use auditory cues as part of their reproductive
repertoire but intended receivers must be able to localize sounds to make
full use of this information. Specialized couplings between the ear and swim
bladder are thought to be critical for acoustic localization, yet species
without specialized connections use acoustic cues in reproductive displays.
In an attempt to better understand mechanisms of acoustic localization, we
used the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), a hearing generalist, to
assess responses to calls in the lab and field. The call used for playback
was recorded in the field from an actively displaying male round goby and
consisted of a series of low frequency pulses. In the field, playback of the
call resulted in a significant enhancement of approaches toward, and entries
into, an experimental arena as compared to when the sound was off. There was
no effect on the amount of time spent near the speaker however. In the lab,
males and females responded actively when calls were played and females
showed a significant attraction to the playing speaker. Responses were
highly directional with little angular deviation, suggesting true
localization to the sound source. While the sensory mechanisms allowing
round gobies to selectively respond to conspecific vocalizations remain
unknown, it is clear that they do show highly directional responses to
acoustic cues in both laboratory and field settings.
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Frank Veit, Ph D
Marine Mammal Research Coordinator
Archipelagos Institute
Poste Restante
85500 Patmos
Greece
Tel./Fax: +30 22750 41673
mob. : +30 6946447506
www.archipelago.gr
~~~ ~ ~ ~
International Laboratory for Dolphin Behaviour Research
c/o Dolphin Reef, Southern Beach
88000 Eilat, Israel
www.dolphinlab.info
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