Behavioural responses of female Neogobius melanostomus to odours of conspecifics

Abstract

The behavioural responses of reproductive and non-reproductive female round gobies Neogobius melanostomus to water conditioned by reproductive and non-reproductive males and females were tested. The behavioural responses of reproductive female round gobies exposed to odour of reproductive males included increased time spent near the source of the odour, elevated swimming velocities and directed movement to and around the odour source when compared with their responses to control water. These results suggested that pheromones released from reproductive males may induce spawning behaviour in reproductive females. Non-reproductive females exposed to reproductive female odour spent significantly more time near the odour source of reproductive females compared with control water. Non-reproductive females also showed directed movement towards and around the odour source when exposed to reproductive female odour. These results suggested that round gobies use inter-sexual and intrasexual pheromones and that both sex and reproductive status are important in the detection and release of these pheromones. # 2005 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles

Condition-dependent auditory processing in the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus): links to sex, reproductive condition, and female estrogen levels.

“…The reproductive state-dependent sensory flexibility recently observed in the pheromonal communication system of round goby (Belanger et al, 2004;Belanger et al, 2007) can now be extended to the acoustic modality. Olfactory and auditory function in the round goby clearly varies depending on multiple aspects of receiver condition, which can have profound implications for reproductive behaviors (Gammon et al, 2005;Rollo et al, 2007;Kasurak et al, 2012). More generally, several hypotheses generated from the current study may be used to better understand the reproductive ecologies and physiological mechanisms that give rise to reproductive state-dependent sensory flexibility and sex differences in sensory systems.…”

“…The initial sorting was verified after euthanasia using conventional GSI cut-off values in round goby literature. Males were designated as reproductive when GSI exceeded 1% (Marentette and Corkum, 2008;Bowley et al, 2010) and females were considered reproductive if GSI exceeded 8% (Gammon et al, 2005;Bowley et al, 2010). GSI within each reproductive group was as follows: NRF 1.5±0.35%, RF 13.2±0.94%, NRM 0.17±0.005%, RM 1.6±0.12% (means ± s.e.m.).…”

“…In playback experiments, females show a stronger propensity to approach acoustic stimuli than males (Rollo et al, 2007), which could indicate a female advantage in auditory function to aid in localizing vocalizing males. Additionally, female attraction to male olfactory-auditory signals is stronger in gravid females than in nongravid females (Kasurak et al, 2012), and female olfactory sensitivity and attraction to male odors is enhanced in gravid females (Belanger et al, 2004;Gammon et al, 2005).…”

Microhabitat Use Affects Brain Size and Structure in Intertidal Gobies

“…The hypothalamus controls food intake [Roberts and Savage, 1978], daily cy-cles in physiological state and behaviour, and many of the neuroendocrine pathways that underlie mating behaviours such as pheromone production, dominance, territoriality and courtship behaviours [Francis et al, 1993;Hofmann and Fernald, 2000;Pollen et al, 2007]; it also receives olfactory impulses from the medial forebrain bundle and telencephalon [Schnitzlein, 1964]. It has been shown in many goby species that pheromones play a vital role in distinguishing between reproductive and non-reproductive conspecifics [Zielinski et al, 2003;Corkum et al, 2006], initiating courtship behaviours [Tavolga, 1956] and synchronizing spawning interactions [MacInnis and Corkum, 2000;Gammon et al, 2005]. Extensive research on the frillfin goby (B. soporator), for example, has revealed that ovarian pheromone production by female frillfin gobies has been shown to cause courtship behaviours in males, even if the female is not present [Tavolga, 1956].…”

Does the reproductive status of male round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) influence their response to conspecific odours?

“…However, the only behavioural studies to date of the round goby in response to pheromones have concentrated on the female. Recent work has shown that gravid females respond to reproductive male odour, and non-reproductive females (NRF) to gravid female odour, by increasing swimming velocity and concentrating movement near the odour source (Gammon et al 2005). This demonstrates that both genders are capable of releasing pheromones detected by conspecifics, but thus far only in a reproductive state.…”