Method for underwater measurement of the auditory brainstem response of fish

Abstract

The auditory brainstem response (ABR) of fishes is commonly measured by bringing the heads of the fishes out of the water in a small tank. However, this method is inapplicable to experiments for large fishes that are economically important in large spaces such as the sea or in a large tank. This paper describes a method of recording, the ABR for fishes in water, without exposing the fish heads to air, by using a waterproof, insulated electrode. To evaluate the effectiveness of this method, the goldfish Carassius auratus was investigated, and the ABR waveform and auditory thresholds measured in water were compared with those measured on the surface. Both ABR waveforms and auditory thresholds showed similar trends between the two methods. The underwater ABR method is useful to measure the auditory thresholds of larger fish in natural or on-site environments such as the sea, net enclosures and lare aquaria in which precise positioning of the fish is not possible. However, more improvement is needed to apply this method to large fishes.