227
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
J.A. Sisneros (ed.), Fish Hearing and Bioacoustics, Advances in Experimental
Medicine and Biology 877, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-21059-9_11
Comparison of Electrophysiological Auditory
Measures in Fishes
Karen P. Maruska and Joseph A. Sisneros
Abstract Sounds provide fi shes with important information used to mediate
behaviors such as predator avoidance, prey detection, and social communication.
How we measure auditory capabilities in fi shes, therefore, has crucial implications
for interpreting how individual species use acoustic information in their natural
habitat. Recent analyses have highlighted differences between behavioral and electrophysiologically determined hearing thresholds, but less is known about how
physiological measures at different auditory processing levels compare within a
single species. Here we provide one of the fi rst comparisons of auditory threshold
curves determined by different recording methods in a single fi sh species, the soniferous Hawaiian sergeant fi sh Abudefduf abdominalis , and review past studies on
representative fi sh species with tuning curves determined by different methods. The
Hawaiian sergeant is a colonial benthic-spawning damselfi sh (Pomacentridae) that
produces low-frequency, low-intensity sounds associated with reproductive and
agonistic behaviors. We compared saccular potentials, auditory evoked potentials
(AEP), and single neuron recordings from acoustic nuclei of the hindbrain and
midbrain torus semicircularis. We found that hearing thresholds were lowest at low
frequencies (~75–300 Hz) for all methods, which matches the spectral components
of sounds produced by this species. However, thresholds at best frequency determined via single cell recordings were ~15–25 dB lower than those measured by
AEP and saccular potential techniques. While none of these physiological techniques gives us a true measure of the auditory “perceptual” abilities of a naturally
behaving fi sh, this study highlights that different methodologies can reveal similar
detectable range of frequencies for a given species, but absolute hearing sensitivity
may vary considerably.
Keywords Abudefduf • Acoustic • AEP • Hearing • Saccule • Torus semicircularis
K. P. Maruska (*)
Department of Biological Sciences , Louisiana State University ,
202 Life Sciences Building , Baton Rouge , LA 70803 , USA
e-mail: kmaruska@lsu.edu
J. A. Sisneros
Department of Psychology , University of Washington ,
408 Guthrie Hall , Seattle , WA 98195 , USA
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
J.A. Sisneros (ed.), Fish Hearing and Bioacoustics, Advances in Experimental
Medicine and Biology 877, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-21059-9_11
Comparison of Electrophysiological Auditory
Measures in Fishes
Karen P. Maruska and Joseph A. Sisneros
Abstract Sounds provide fi shes with important information used to mediate
behaviors such as predator avoidance, prey detection, and social communication.
How we measure auditory capabilities in fi shes, therefore, has crucial implications
for interpreting how individual species use acoustic information in their natural
habitat. Recent analyses have highlighted differences between behavioral and electrophysiologically determined hearing thresholds, but less is known about how
physiological measures at different auditory processing levels compare within a
single species. Here we provide one of the fi rst comparisons of auditory threshold
curves determined by different recording methods in a single fi sh species, the soniferous Hawaiian sergeant fi sh Abudefduf abdominalis , and review past studies on
representative fi sh species with tuning curves determined by different methods. The
Hawaiian sergeant is a colonial benthic-spawning damselfi sh (Pomacentridae) that
produces low-frequency, low-intensity sounds associated with reproductive and
agonistic behaviors. We compared saccular potentials, auditory evoked potentials
(AEP), and single neuron recordings from acoustic nuclei of the hindbrain and
midbrain torus semicircularis. We found that hearing thresholds were lowest at low
frequencies (~75–300 Hz) for all methods, which matches the spectral components
of sounds produced by this species. However, thresholds at best frequency determined via single cell recordings were ~15–25 dB lower than those measured by
AEP and saccular potential techniques. While none of these physiological techniques gives us a true measure of the auditory “perceptual” abilities of a naturally
behaving fi sh, this study highlights that different methodologies can reveal similar
detectable range of frequencies for a given species, but absolute hearing sensitivity
may vary considerably.
Keywords Abudefduf • Acoustic • AEP • Hearing • Saccule • Torus semicircularis
K. P. Maruska (*)
Department of Biological Sciences , Louisiana State University ,
202 Life Sciences Building , Baton Rouge , LA 70803 , USA
e-mail: kmaruska@lsu.edu
J. A. Sisneros
Department of Psychology , University of Washington ,
408 Guthrie Hall , Seattle , WA 98195 , USA