Sound production in the Meagre, Argyrosomus regius (Asso, 1801): intraspecific variability associated with size, sex and context.

Beatriz P Pereira,Marisa Barata,Paulo J Fonseca,Pedro Pousão-Ferreira,Maria Clara P Amorim,Manuel Vieira,Ana Candeias-Mendes

doi:10.7717/peerj.8559

Abstract

BackgroundMany fish taxa produce sound in voluntary and in disturbance contexts but information on the full acoustic repertoire is lacking for most species. Yet, this knowledge is critical to enable monitoring fish populations in nature through acoustic monitoring.MethodsIn this study we characterized the sounds emitted during disturbance and voluntary contexts by juvenile and adult meagre, Argyrosomus regius, in laboratory conditions. Breeding sounds produced by captive adults were also compared with meagre sounds registered in the Tagus estuary (Lisbon, Portugal) from unseen fish during the breeding season.ResultsThe present dataset demonstrates for the first time that in this species dominant frequency is inversely related to fish size, and that sounds vary according to sex, context and age. Sounds from captive breeding adults were similar to sounds recorded in the field.DiscussionOur findings indicate that A. regius sound features carry information about size, sex, age and motivation. This variability could potentially be used to identify meagre in the field and to infer about ontogenetic phase (i.e., juveniles vs. adults, and variation with size) and motivation (e.g., spawning). Future studies should confirm sex differences and ascertain the influence of water temperature on acoustic features.

Highlights

Numerous fish species produce sounds for social communication and when disturbed (Radford, Kerridge & Simpson, 2014), through several sound production mechanisms (Ladich & Fine, 2006; Fine & Parmentier, 2015)
All acoustic features of disturbance sounds were significantly correlated with total length with the exception of Q1 frequency (Table 1, Fig. 4)
Across a range of 71 cm in total length (31–102 cm) sound duration increased 9 ms from 126 to 135 ms, the number of pulses increased by 3 from 12 to 15, pulse period decreased by 2 ms from 11 ms to 9 ms and peak frequency decreased by 79 Hz from 340 Hz to 261 Hz

Summary

Introduction

Numerous fish species produce sounds for social communication and when disturbed (Radford, Kerridge & Simpson, 2014), through several sound production mechanisms (Ladich & Fine, 2006; Fine & Parmentier, 2015). Acoustic variability is mainly related to behavioural functions, such as courtship, spawning, agonistic behaviour, competitive feeding, and disturbance (Amorim, 2006; Ladich & Myrberg, 2006). This inter- and intra-specific variability of fish sounds is useful to ascertain the presence, identity and activity of fish in nature (e.g., Borie et al, 2014; Erisman & Rowell, 2017). Our findings indicate that A. regius sound features carry information about size, sex, age and motivation This variability could potentially be used to identify meagre in the field and to infer about ontogenetic phase (i.e., juveniles vs adults, and variation with size) and motivation (e.g., spawning). Future studies should confirm sex differences and ascertain the influence of water temperature on acoustic features

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