Abstract
Previous experimental studies suggest that the production of sound associated with expelling gas from an open swimbladder may play a role in communication. This would suggest non-random gas release. We used deployed echosounders to study patterns of gas release among a fjord population of sprat (Sprattus sprattus). The echosounder records concurrently revealed individual fish and their release of gas. The gas release primarily occurred at night, partly following recurrent temporal patterns, but also varying between nights. In testing for non-randomness, we formulated a data-driven simulation approach. Non-random gas release scaled with the length of the analyzed time intervals from 1 min to 6 h, and above 30 min the release events in more than 50% of the intervals were significantly connected.
Highlights
Previous experimental studies suggest that the production of sound associated with expelling gas from an open swimbladder may play a role in communication
The sound produced by gas release in both Pacific (Clupea pallacii) and Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) is characterized by distinctive bursts of pulses at unusual frequencies compared to other fish s ounds[4,10]
Wilson et al.[4] observed that sounds were temporally associated with the appearance of fine bubble streams from the anus or anal duct of individual fishes, which compares with echosounder records of gas release by s prat[9]
Summary
Previous experimental studies suggest that the production of sound associated with expelling gas from an open swimbladder may play a role in communication. Sound records do not appear to have been made for sprat (Sprattus sprattus), but based on their open canal from the swimbladder to the anal duct, Wahlberg and W esterberg[10] suggested that sprat produced similar chirps as herring during gas release. Wilson et al.[4] observed that sounds were temporally associated with the appearance of fine bubble streams from the anus or anal duct of individual fishes, which compares with echosounder records of gas release by s prat[9]. Hawkins and P opper[14] underline that clupeid fishes, including the sprat, are especially sensitive to sounds, and that hearing in sprat is likely to be similar to that of herring
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