Soundscapes and the sense of hearing of fishes

Abstract

Underwater soundscapes have probably played an important role in the adaptation of ears and auditory systems of fishes throughout evolutionary time, and for all species. These sounds probably contain important information about the environment and about most objects and events that confront the receiving fish so that appropriate behavior is possible. For example, the sounds from reefs appear to be used by at least some fishes for their orientation and migration. These sorts of environmental sounds should be considered much like "acoustic daylight," that continuously bathes all environments and contain information that all organisms can potentially use to form a sort of image of the environment. At present, however, we are generally ignorant of the nature of ambient sound fields impinging on fishes, and the adaptive value of processing these fields to resolve the multiple sources of sound. Our field has focused almost exclusively on the adaptive value of processing species-specific communication sounds, and has not considered the informational value of ambient "noise." Since all fishes can detect and process acoustic particle motion, including the directional characteristics of this motion, underwater sound fields are potentially more complex and information-rich than terrestrial acoustic environments. The capacities of one fish species (goldfish) to receive and make use of such sound source information have been demonstrated (sound source segregation and auditory scene analysis), and it is suggested that all vertebrate species have this capacity. A call is made to better understand underwater soundscapes, and the associated behaviors they determine in fishes.

Diversity in Fish Auditory Systems: One of the Riddles of Sensory Biology

“…The latter includes vocalizations from con-and hetero-specifics produced for intraspecific communication but also unintentional sound such as feeding or swimming noise. All of this constitutes the auditory scene (or soundscape, (Fay, 2009)) and provides important information for migration, reproductive activities as well as predator avoidance or prey detection. It needs to be mentioned that such acoustic information may be important for all fish species independent of their hearing abilities and that we have still limited knowledge of what fish hear besides conspecific sounds in vocalizing species (Fay, 2011).…”

Specialized primary feathers produce tonal sounds during flight in rock pigeons (Columba livia)

“…a cue). Nearly all animals possess the ability to detect this sound (Budelmann, 1989(Budelmann, , 1992Fay, 2009;Horch, 1971), and many may go to great lengths to mask their own locomotion-induced sounds (Conner, 2014;Graham, 1934;Roche et al, 1999). Conversely, however, many species have also developed remarkable ways to amplify and otherwise modulate these motion-induced sounds for communication (Bostwick, 2006;Clark and Prum, 2015;Darwin, 1871).…”

First evidence of fish larvae producing sounds

“…Adult fishes are able to produce and receive sounds, and acoustic signals are used to attract mates, defend territories and startle predators [1][2][3]. Sounds can provide information from abiotic and biotic sources in the surrounding environment, even for fish that can only receive but not produce sounds [4]. Recent studies have examined the hypothesis that larval reef fish use acoustic signals to orient towards reefs through field-based playback experiments and laboratory-based measurements of hearing thresholds [5][6][7][8].…”