Species identity and the temporal characteristics of fish acoustic signals
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2002 |
Authors: |
R.L Kihslinger, A.P Klimley |
Publication/Journal: |
Journal of Comparative Psychology |
Keywords: |
animal communication, animal vocalization, animals, auditory perception, coursthip, environment, female, fishes, male, social environment, sound spectrography, species specificity |
ISBN: |
0735-7036 |
Abstract:
Analyses of the acoustic signals of fish show that fine-scale temporal patterns of signals are what vary
among species. A growing body of research addressing the topic of species differences in fish acoustic
signals suggests that these differences are related to mate choice or species isolation. However, little
behavioral work has been done to determine whether these temporal differences are actually used in
discriminating conspecific sounds from interspecific sounds. In this article, the authors review three
cases—Centrachids, Mormyrids, and Pomancentrids—for which species specificity in both signal production
and differential response to acoustic signals have been demonstrated. Work done on damselfish
(Dascyllus albisella) is an especially good example and thus may serve as a model for future work.