ACOUSTIC BEHAVIOR OF THE DAMSELFISH DASCYLLUS-ALBISELLA - BEHAVIORAL AND GEOGRAPHIC-VARIATION

Behavioral and geographic variation in animal communication has been w ell-studied in insects, frogs, birds. and mammals, but little is known about variation in fishes. We used underwater audio-video recordings of the behavior and associated sounds produced by the domino damselfis h, Dascyllus albisella, at Johnston Atoll and Hawaii, which are separa ted by 1000 km, to study behavioral and geographic variation in commun ication sounds. Males produced pulsed sounds during the courtship beha vior known as the signal jump, visiting by females (during pseudospawn ing), mating, aggression to heterospecifics and conspecifics, and nest preparation. Females made only aggressive sounds. The following featu res of the sounds were measured: number of pulses, pulse rate, pulse d uration, inter-pulse interval, dominant frequency, and frequency envel ope. The only difference between visiting and mating sounds was a smal l difference in pulse duration. Two types of aggressive sounds were pr oduced, pops and chirps. Pops contained only one or two pulses and wer e more commonly made towards heterospecifics than conspecifics. Aggres sive chirps had between 3-11 pulses and were made most often towards c onspecifics. The pulse rate of aggressive chirps was faster than signa l jump sounds. The only difference in signal jump sounds made by males from Johnston Atoll and Hawaii, was a small difference in pulse durat ion, which was likely due to differences in the depths of the recordin g environment and not in the sounds produced.