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Researchers study acoustic communication in deep-sea fish
September 25, 2008An international research team studying sound production in deep-sea fishes has found that cusk-eels use several sets of muscles to produce sound that plays a prominent role in male mating calls.
These findings, published online today in the Royal Society journal, Biology Letters, may help researchers gain further insight into acoustic communication in the deep sea and the role of sound in fish behavior.
Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences biologists Michael L. Fine, Ph.D., Kim Nguyen and Hsung Lin, both graduate students at VCU, together with Eric Parmentier at the Université de Liège in Belgium, examined the sonic muscles of the fawn cusk-eel, Lepophidium profundorum, a species found in the Atlantic Ocean.
"Little is known about acoustic communication in the deep sea because of the difficulties of observing fish in this habitat. Based on anatomy, ophidiid fishes, or cusk-eels, are likely one of the chief sound producers. They have unusual sonic muscles that occur in antagonistic pairs and are typically larger in males," said Fine, a professor in the VCU Department of Biology.
Many fish use an organ known as a swim bladder to produce sound. According to Fine, the fawn cusk-eel uses two muscle pairs to pivot a modified rib, 'the wing-like process,' forward. This action stretches the swim bladder. An antagonistic muscle pair then restores the swim bladder to its original position.
In previous work outside of the mating season, they found that the tiny intermediate muscle of the fawn cusk-eel was larger in females, which was quite surprising since male fish are usually more vocal than females, said Fine.
The research team obtained the fish during the summer mating season and found that intermediate muscle weight increased four fold and had become heavier in males than in females.
"Our findings suggest that the intermediate muscle likely assumes a prominent role in sound production of male mating calls and suggest that male sex hormones cause the muscle to grow," he said.
According to Fine, fishes make sounds for different reasons, but the two most common types of sounds are made for courtship and agonistic behaviors.
Virginia Commonwealth University
"Little is known about acoustic communication in the deep sea because of the difficulties of observing fish in this habitat. Based on anatomy, ophidiid fishes, or cusk-eels, are likely one of the chief sound producers. They have unusual sonic muscles that occur in antagonistic pairs and are typically larger in males," said Fine, a professor in the VCU Department of Biology.
Many fish use an organ known as a swim bladder to produce sound. According to Fine, the fawn cusk-eel uses two muscle pairs to pivot a modified rib, 'the wing-like process,' forward. This action stretches the swim bladder. An antagonistic muscle pair then restores the swim bladder to its original position.
In previous work outside of the mating season, they found that the tiny intermediate muscle of the fawn cusk-eel was larger in females, which was quite surprising since male fish are usually more vocal than females, said Fine.
The research team obtained the fish during the summer mating season and found that intermediate muscle weight increased four fold and had become heavier in males than in females.
"Our findings suggest that the intermediate muscle likely assumes a prominent role in sound production of male mating calls and suggest that male sex hormones cause the muscle to grow," he said.
According to Fine, fishes make sounds for different reasons, but the two most common types of sounds are made for courtship and agonistic behaviors.
Virginia Commonwealth University
NJIT professor's research suggests changes in underwater data communications
An NJIT professor, who has discovered new communication channels in underwater environments and invented a technique to communicate data through these channels, will be honored later this month by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame.
From the egg, baby crocodiles call to each other and to mom
For the first time, researchers have shown that the pre-hatching calls of baby Nile crocodiles actually mean something to their siblings and to their mothers.
Singing in the rainforest: Public vs. private signaling by a tropical rainforest bird
According to the Chinese proverb, a bird sings because it has a song, not because it has an answer. A team of French and Brazilian researchers, however, may have the answer as to how the song of Brazilian white-browed warbler has become so well-adapted to the acoustic properties of the rainforest environment.
Latest papers from Royal Society`s Proceedings B (Biological Sciences) and Proceedings A (Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences) Journals
Please find below the summaries of papers in Proceedings A and B that are due to be published this week on FirstCite, the Royal Society`s new rapid online publication service. Passwords for this site can be supplied to bona fide media on request. For more information, please contact Soccy Ponsford on tel +44 (0) 207 451 2508 or email mailto:press@royalsoc.ac.uk PROCEEDINGS B (Biological sciences)http://www.catchword.com/rsl/09628452/previews/contp1-1.htm Pink landscapes: 1/f spectra of spatial environmental variability and bird community composition by Dr D Storch, Dr KJ Gaston and Dr J Cepak Variability of populations and communities increases with period or distance measured. For ecologica
Calculating penguins find the right mates
French scientists have discovered that king penguins have an innate mathematical ability which helps them find their mates among a crowd of tens of thousands of other penguins.
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