Cargando…

Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination

Many fishes rely on their auditory skills to interpret crucial information about predators and prey, and to communicate intraspecifically. Few studies, however, have examined how complex natural sounds are perceived in fishes. We investigated the representation of conspecific mating and agonistic ca...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vasconcelos, Raquel O., Fonseca, Paulo J., Amorim, M. Clara P., Ladich, Friedrich
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3049045/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20861044
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1376
_version_ 1782199204293115904
author Vasconcelos, Raquel O.
Fonseca, Paulo J.
Amorim, M. Clara P.
Ladich, Friedrich
author_facet Vasconcelos, Raquel O.
Fonseca, Paulo J.
Amorim, M. Clara P.
Ladich, Friedrich
author_sort Vasconcelos, Raquel O.
collection PubMed
description Many fishes rely on their auditory skills to interpret crucial information about predators and prey, and to communicate intraspecifically. Few studies, however, have examined how complex natural sounds are perceived in fishes. We investigated the representation of conspecific mating and agonistic calls in the auditory system of the Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus, and analysed auditory responses to heterospecific signals from ecologically relevant species: a sympatric vocal fish (meagre Argyrosomus regius) and a potential predator (dolphin Tursiops truncatus). Using auditory evoked potential (AEP) recordings, we showed that both sexes can resolve fine features of conspecific calls. The toadfish auditory system was most sensitive to frequencies well represented in the conspecific vocalizations (namely the mating boatwhistle), and revealed a fine representation of duration and pulsed structure of agonistic and mating calls. Stimuli and corresponding AEP amplitudes were highly correlated, indicating an accurate encoding of amplitude modulation. Moreover, Lusitanian toadfish were able to detect T. truncatus foraging sounds and A. regius calls, although at higher amplitudes. We provide strong evidence that the auditory system of a vocal fish, lacking accessory hearing structures, is capable of resolving fine features of complex vocalizations that are probably important for intraspecific communication and other relevant stimuli from the auditory scene.
format Text
id pubmed-3049045
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher The Royal Society
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-30490452011-03-15 Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination Vasconcelos, Raquel O. Fonseca, Paulo J. Amorim, M. Clara P. Ladich, Friedrich Proc Biol Sci Research Articles Many fishes rely on their auditory skills to interpret crucial information about predators and prey, and to communicate intraspecifically. Few studies, however, have examined how complex natural sounds are perceived in fishes. We investigated the representation of conspecific mating and agonistic calls in the auditory system of the Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus, and analysed auditory responses to heterospecific signals from ecologically relevant species: a sympatric vocal fish (meagre Argyrosomus regius) and a potential predator (dolphin Tursiops truncatus). Using auditory evoked potential (AEP) recordings, we showed that both sexes can resolve fine features of conspecific calls. The toadfish auditory system was most sensitive to frequencies well represented in the conspecific vocalizations (namely the mating boatwhistle), and revealed a fine representation of duration and pulsed structure of agonistic and mating calls. Stimuli and corresponding AEP amplitudes were highly correlated, indicating an accurate encoding of amplitude modulation. Moreover, Lusitanian toadfish were able to detect T. truncatus foraging sounds and A. regius calls, although at higher amplitudes. We provide strong evidence that the auditory system of a vocal fish, lacking accessory hearing structures, is capable of resolving fine features of complex vocalizations that are probably important for intraspecific communication and other relevant stimuli from the auditory scene. The Royal Society 2011-03-22 2010-09-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3049045/ /pubmed/20861044 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1376 Text en This journal is © 2010 The Royal Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Vasconcelos, Raquel O.
Fonseca, Paulo J.
Amorim, M. Clara P.
Ladich, Friedrich
Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
title Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
title_full Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
title_fullStr Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
title_full_unstemmed Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
title_short Representation of complex vocalizations in the Lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
title_sort representation of complex vocalizations in the lusitanian toadfish auditory system: evidence of fine temporal, frequency and amplitude discrimination
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3049045/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20861044
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1376
work_keys_str_mv AT vasconcelosraquelo representationofcomplexvocalizationsinthelusitaniantoadfishauditorysystemevidenceoffinetemporalfrequencyandamplitudediscrimination
AT fonsecapauloj representationofcomplexvocalizationsinthelusitaniantoadfishauditorysystemevidenceoffinetemporalfrequencyandamplitudediscrimination
AT amorimmclarap representationofcomplexvocalizationsinthelusitaniantoadfishauditorysystemevidenceoffinetemporalfrequencyandamplitudediscrimination
AT ladichfriedrich representationofcomplexvocalizationsinthelusitaniantoadfishauditorysystemevidenceoffinetemporalfrequencyandamplitudediscrimination