The Effect of Swim Bladder Presence and Morphology on Sound Frequency Detection for Fishes

Abstract

Expedient classification of fishes’ hearing abilities based on detected frequency can inform potential impacts of anthropogenic noise on fish communities. Nevertheless, literature on fish hearing is discordant in methodology and limited to a small fraction of known species. The literature on fish audition (N = 63) supported four classes associated with swim bladder specialization: species without swim bladders, those with unmodified and modified swim bladders, and those with Weberian ossicles or bullae. These classes were compared for audition (detected frequency) in addition to the effects of methodology and imposed sound type on detected frequency. Maximum and optimum frequencies that fish detected increased with swim bladder presence and elaboration. Methods of testing audition and the form of sound measured affected the maximum and optimum frequencies detected by fish, but when statistically accounted for did not affect the rankings of hearing classes. Although the review supported frequency detection tied to swim bladder specialization, true hearing performance remains poorly known owing to the limited number of studies that have evaluated how fish perceive sound as particle motion rather than sound pressure.