Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Rollo, Audrey Katharina

Titel

Sound localization and auditory response capabilities in the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2005

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A fundamental role of vertebrate auditory systems is determining the direction of a sound source. While fish show directional responses to sound, sound localization remains in dispute. Determining directionality is the ability to distinguish between the left or right side, while localization is being able to determine where in space the origin is. The species used in the current study, Neogobius melanostomus (round goby) uses sound in reproductive contexts, with both male and female gobies showing directed movement towards a calling male. A two-choice laboratory experiment was used (active versus quiet speaker) to analyze behaviour of gobies in response to sound stimuli. When conspecific male spawning sounds were played, gobies moved in a direct path to the active speaker, suggesting true localization to sound. Of the animals that responded to conspecific sounds, 85% of the females and 66% of the males moved directly to the sound source. Auditory playback of natural and synthetic sounds showed differential behavioural specificity. Of gobies that responded, 89% were attracted to the speaker playing Italian goby (Padogobius martensii) sounds, 87% to a 100 Hz tone burst, 62% to white noise, and 56% to black goby (Gobius niger) sounds. During the round goby call, swimming speed to the playing speaker was doubled, and the angle standard deviation was two times more direct than during any other sound playback. Results suggest a strong localization of the round goby to a sound source, with some differential sound specificity. This research is the first to explicitly quantify the ability of a fish to localize a sound source.