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  • Fisheries, Pollution And Algology
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Field studies of hearing in teleost fish

Freilandversuche über das Hörvermögen bei Teleostiern

Helgoländer wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen volume 24, pages 371–390 (1973)Cite this article

Kurzfassung

Versuche über das Hörvermögen verschiedener mariner Fische — des Schellfischs(Melanogrammus aeglefinus), des Pollacks(Pollachius pollachius), des Kabeljaus(Gadus morhua) und des Lengs(Molva molva) — wurden im Biotop, und zwar in 20 m Tiefe bei Loch Torridon (Schottland) durchgeführt. Die Reaktionen der Fische wurden mit Hilfe einer besonderen Dressurtechnik getestet, wobei dem Tonreiz ein leichter elektrischer Schock folgte; wurde das akustische Signal wahrgenommen, traten Veränderungen im Elektrokardiogramm der Fische auf. Alle 4 Arten wiesen ein ähnliches Hörvermögen auf. Im Niederfrequenzbereich von etwa 60–300 Hz wurde die höchste Empfindlichkeit registriert. Bei höheren Frequenzen stellte sich eine Verminderung der Empfindlichkeit ein; nurMolva molva konnte zuverlässig auf einen Ton von 550 Hz abgerichtet werden. Im Bereich niederer Frequenzen waren alle Fische äußerst empfindlich; es ergaben sich Hinweise, daß die Hörschwellen vom Eigenrauschen des Meeres maskiert wurden. Dies wurde durch Versuche bestätigt, bei denen die Intensität des Eigenrauschens vergrößert wurde, die Mithörschwellen aber in konstantem Abstand zum Störpegel blieben. Ferner wurde festgestellt, daß die Verdeckung reiner Töne wesentlich vermindert wurde, wenn Ton und Störpegel aus verschiedenen Richtungen (im rechten Winkel zueinander) abgestrahlt wurden. Daraus ist zu schließen, daß die Fähigkeit, die Richtung der Schallquellen zu unterscheiden, gut entwickelt sein dürfte.

Summary

1. Field measurements of hearing in haddock,Melanogrammus aeglefinus, pollack,Pollachius pollachius and ling,Molva molva, show that they are sensitive to sounds in the frequency range from 30 to 500 Hz, with greatest sensitivity from 100 to 300 Hz.

2. At the most sensitive frequencies the thresholds varied between — 15 to — 25 dB relative to a sound pressure of 1µbar.

3. In all three species, the thresholds at some frequencies were affected by the level of ambient sea noise. A direct correlation between the thresholds and the spectrum level of sea noise was obtained in haddock and pollack.

4. The masking effect of sea noise was confirmed in some experiments on cod,Gadus morbua and haddock, where the background noise level was raised artificially. It was found that the masking of a tone signal was reduced by about 8 dB when the tone and noise were from different directions (85° apart), suggesting that directional discrimination may be well developed in these fish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, Scotland

    C. J. Chapman

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  1. C. J. Chapman
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Chapman, C.J. Field studies of hearing in teleost fish. Helgolander Wiss. Meeresunters 24, 371–390 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01609527

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Helgoland Marine Research

ISSN: 1438-3888

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