Development of agonistic behaviour and vocalization in croaking gouramis

Abstract

The development of agonistic behaviour and vocalization in the croaking gourami Trichopsis vittata was studied from hatching to sexual maturity (4 months of age). Initial interactions started when fry were 11 days old and consisted of approach and flight in a feeding context. More complex threat patterns appeared during dyadic encounters as fish grew older. Lateral display (spreading of median fins in a lateral position) first occurred during the third week, circling shortly afterwards and pectoral fin beating when fish were 7 weeks old. Rapid pectoral fin beating was first accompanied by sound emission at 8 weeks. Initially, croaking sounds were built up mainly of a series of single pulses, each one produced by one pectoral fin. Later, single pulses gave way to double pulses. Furthermore, pulse period and number of pulses increased, while the dominant frequency of croaks decreased significantly with age. After vocalization was established, frontal display, mouth biting and retreat behaviour occurred at the age of 10 weeks. Initially, young exhibited vertical bars which gave way to dots and horizontal bars at 8 weeks when fish started to vocalize. The order of appearance of behavioural patterns during ontogeny corresponds to the order of appearance in fights between adults. This is the first study demonstrating that the ontogenetic development of social signalling comprises characteristic changes in behaviour, vocalization and coloration in a teleost fish.

Comparative study on sound production in different Holocentridae species

“…In Myripristis , we showed the number of pulses and their amplitudes were lower in the larvae than in the adults. Although the mechanisms are not the same, these results are in concordance with studies involving fishes from other taxa: the croaking gourami T. vittata [ 16 , 39 ] and the gurnard E. gurnardus [ 22 ].…”

Ontogenetic development of auditory sensitivity and sound production in the squeaker catfish Synodontis schoutedeni

“…The dominant frequency of sounds is negatively correlated with body size in representatives of all families investigated so far, for example, in pomacentrids - Stegastes partitus , Dascyllus albisella, Amphiprion akallopisos, A. clarkii, A. frenatus , A. ocellaris , [ 23 , 26 , 34 , 35 ], osphronemids - Trichopsis vittata , T. pumila and T. schalleri [ 17 , 21 , 22 ], sciaenids - Cynoscion regalis [ 36 ], triglids - Eutrigla gurnardus [ 25 ], and toadfishes - Halobatrachus didactylus [ 19 ]. Fine et al [ 37 ] found a decrease of center frequency in the ictalurid catfish Ictalurus punctatus .…”

Agonistic sounds in the skunk clownfish Amphiprion akallopisos: size‐related variation in acoustic features

“…Some evidences attest that dominant frequency and pulse duration are related to fish size in the A. akallopisos: larger individuals produce lower frequency and longer duration pulses than smaller individuals. In the croaking gourami Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier) for example, sound duration increases during ontogeny whereas dominant frequency decreases (Henglmüller & Ladich, 1999). In the grey gurnard Eutrigla gurnardus (L.), sound production changes from small juveniles to large adults during competitive feeding (Amorim & Hawkins, 2005).…”