Sound characteristics of big-snout croaker, Johnius macrorhynus (Sciaenidae)

Abstract

The sounds of a big-snout croaker, Johnius macrorhynus, produced under hand-held and voluntary conditions (in a large aquarium and in the field) were compared. Voluntary calls included "purr" and "dual-knocks", only purrs were produced when the fish was hand-held. The purr is composed of pulses in which the first interpulse interval was six to nine times longer than the other interpulse intervals, which were approximate in duration, and is a unique sound type in the coastal water of Taiwan. Purrs emitted under these conditions did not differ significantly, suggesting that the hand-held sound can be employed to match the sound in the field. These sounds contained energy reaching 5 kHz, with two peaks at about 1 and 2 kHz-the former being the dominant frequency. First interpulse interval, main interpulse interval, repetition rate of pulse, and pulse duration may serve as the diagnostic characters for the species-specific sound (i.e., purrs). One specimen survived in a large aquarium for 6 months and its vocal activity was monitored. The fish produced fewer dual-knocks than purrs, and purrs were about 11 dB louder than dual-knocks emitted in the aquarium. The temporal sequential relationship of these types in the sound of this individual was described.

Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin occurrence north of Lantau Island, Hong Kong, based on year-round passive acoustic monitoring

“…Low-frequency biological sounds (Fig. 12) resembling published sounds for croakers and other fish species (Lin et al, 2007;Mok et al, 2011) were noted in recordings from spring through autumn, and these sounds are hypothesized to be a major contributor to this seasonal evening peak.…”

Dynamics of soundscape in a shallow water marine environment: A study of the habitat of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin

“…Especially at the shallow water area of WS, almost none of the higher low-frequency band energy can be associated with a specific source such as passing vessel. The high SPLs in the higher frequency band of 1.2-2.4 kHz are principally sounds of biological origin from croaker fish (family: Sciaenidae) chorus, based on studies by Lin et al (2007) and Mok et al (2009). A detailed spectrogram of croaker chorus is shown in Fig.…”

“…The dominant frequency band of 1.2-2.4 kHz is higher than what is reported from most other sciaenid species (Sprague et al, 2000;Ramcharitar et al, 2006;Mok et al, 2009), which is typically under 1 kHz. However, some call types of potential sciaenids (Mok et al, 2011) and at least one confirmed species, the big-snout croaker (Johnius macrorhynus), did contain frequencies above 2 kHz (Lin et al, 2007). Different geophysical features and local oceanographic processes can contribute to site specific soundscape due to different biological communities and acoustic propagation and behavioral between the sites.…”

Sound production in the whitemouth croaker and relationship between fish size and disturbance call characteristics

“…The sonic muscle induces sound production by contracting and relaxing at high speed, thereby forcing the bladder into motion (Tavolga 1964;Ladich and Fine 2006). Other sciaenid species also produce a range of different sound repertoires by the same mechanism (Tavolga 1980;Connaughton and Taylor 1996;Lin et al 2007). The waveform of both the disturbance and advertisement calls of M. furnieri consist of similar rapidlydamped pulses, suggesting both sounds are produced by the same mechanism.…”