Abstract
Fish sounds are known to be species-specific, possessing unique temporal and spectral features. We have recorded and compared sounds in eight piranha species to evaluate the potential role of acoustic communication as a driving force in clade diversification. All piranha species showed the same kind of sound-producing mechanism: sonic muscles originate on vertebrae and attach to a tendon surrounding the bladder ventrally. Contractions of the sound-producing muscles force swimbladder vibration and dictate the fundamental frequency. It results the calling features of the eight piranha species logically share many common characteristics. In all the species, the calls are harmonic sounds composed of multiple continuous cycles. However, the sounds of Serrasalmus elongatus (higher number of cycles and high fundamental frequency) and S. manueli (long cycle periods and low fundamental frequency) are clearly distinguishable from the other species. The sonic mechanism being largely conserved throughout piranha evolution, acoustic communication can hardly be considered as the main driving force in the diversification process. However, sounds of some species are clearly distinguishable despite the short space for variations supporting the need for specific communication. Behavioural studies are needed to clearly understand the eventual role of the calls during spawning events.
Highlights
Acoustic signals may amongst other things convey information relative to species identity[1]
Sound duration was highly positively correlated to the number of cycles
To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that sounds produced by S. marginatus, S. compressus, S. manueli and S. eigenmanni have been recorded
Summary
Acoustic signals may amongst other things convey information relative to species identity[1]. Several examples demonstrating divergence in acoustic signals between closely-related species can be found in different sound-producing taxa such as arthropods[2,3], anurans[4,5,6], birds[7,8] and mammals[9,10]. Sounds are used in reproductive contexts meaning the selective forces driving the diversification are more important This higher diversity in sounds would support the role of acoustic communication in the species’ evolution. One sound is characterized by a high frequency (1700 Hz) and is caused by a rapid closure of the jaws This sound is produced when the fish attempts to bite a conspecific or a prey. The second objective was to evaluate, by means of the acoustic properties of the different species, the potential role of acoustic communication as a driving force in the diversification of piranhas
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