Publication
Title
Cichlids respond to conspecific sounds but females exhibit no phonotaxis without the presence of live males
Author
Abstract
Many fish species are able to produce sounds, which are often associated with courtship. In an earlier study, we showed for the Lake Victoria cichlid Pundamilia nyererei that females prefer to associate with a male with sound over a male without sound. As a follow-up to this earlier finding, we here investigated whether playback of conspecific sounds is sufficient to attract females in the absence of a conspecific male. However, we did not find a phonotactic response for conspecific sounds in the absence of live males, using the same playback procedure as in our previous study. An additional playback test showed that both males and females discriminated between conspecific sounds and bursts of white noise. This suggests that the sounds may be recognised but that they seem only effective as attractant in the presence of visual and/or olfactory cues. These findings underline the multimodal complexity of fish communication and courtship and call for a more integrated study of the different modalities in future studies.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Ecology of freshwater fish. - Oxford
Publication
Oxford : 2014
ISSN
0906-6691
DOI
10.1111/EFF.12081
Volume/pages
23 :3 (2014) , p. 305-312
ISI
000337683700002
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 16.10.2013
Last edited 09.10.2023
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