Seasonal variation in sonic muscles in the fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium profundorum

[en] The fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium profundorum (Ophidiidae) has an unusual sound-producing system with sexually dimorphic sets of antagonistic muscles. Outside the mating season, the dorsal and ventral muscles are well developed and larger in males than in females, but the tiny intermediate muscles are smaller, suggesting a minor role, if any, in male advertisement call production. We examined summer individuals with more developed gonads and find a fourfold hypertrophy of the intermediate but not the other muscles. This result suggests androgen dependence and an important role in sound production for the intermediate muscle. Even though both sexes gain weight in the summer, the ventral and dorsal muscles in females lose weight, suggesting that sound production is less important in females and that muscle mass may be used to support egg growth.

Disciplines :

Zoology

Author, co-author :

Nguyen, Thanh Kim

Lin, Hsung

Parmentier, Eric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement > Morphologie fonctionnelle et évolutive

Fine, Michael

Language :

English

Title :

Seasonal variation in sonic muscles in the fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium profundorum

Publication date :

2008

Journal title :

Biology Letters

ISSN :

1744-9561

eISSN :

1744-957X

Publisher :

The Royal Society, United Kingdom

Volume :

Pages :

707-710

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 13 May 2009

Statistics

Number of views

63 (7 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

136 (1 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

Bibliography

Brantley, R. K., Marchaterre, M. A. & Bass, A. H. 1993 Androgen effects on vocal muscle structure in a teleost fish with inter- and intra-sexual dimorphism. J. Morphol. 216, 305-318.
Carter, H. J. & Musick, J. A. 1985 Sexual dimorphism in the deep-sea fish Barathrodemus manatinus (Ophidiidae). Copeia 1985, 69-73.
Casadevall, M., Matallanas, J., Carrasson, M. & Muñoz, M. 1996 Morphometric, meristc and anatomical differences between Ophidion barbatum L., 1758 and O. rochei Müller, 1845 (Pisces, Ophidiidae). Publ. Esp. Inst. Esp. Oceanogr. 21, 45-61.
Connaughton, M. A. & Taylor, M. H. 1994 Seasonal cycles in the sonic muscles of the weakfish, Cynoscion regalis. Fish. Bull. 92, 697-703.
Connaughton, M. A. & Taylor, M. H. 1995 Effects of exogenous testosterone on sonic muscle mass in the weakfish, Cynoscion regalis. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 100, 238-245.
Connaughton, M. A., Fine, M. L. & Taylor, M. H. 1997 The effects of seasonal hypertrophy and atrophy on fiber morphology, metabolic substrate concentration and sound characteristics of the weakfish sonic muscle. J. Exp. Biol. 200, 2449-2457.
Courtenay, W. R. 1971 Sexual dimorphism of the sound producing mechanism of the striped cusk-eel, Rissola marginata (Pisces: Ophidiidae). Copeia 1971, 259-268.
Fine, M. L. & Pennypacker, K. R. 1986 Hormonal basis for sexual dimorphism of the sound-producing apparatus of the oyster toadfish. Exp. Neurol. 92, 289-298.
Fine, M. L., Burns, N. M. & Harris, T. M. 1990 Ontogeny and sexual dimorphism of the sonic muscle in the oyster toadfish. Can. J. Zool. 68, 1374-1381.
Fine, M. L., Malloy, K. L., King, C. B., Mitchell, S. L. & Cameron, T. M. 2001 Movement and sound generation by the toadfish swimbladder. J. Comp. Physiol. A 187, 371-379.
Fine, M. L., Lin, H., Nguyen, B. B., Rountree, R. A., Cameron, T. M. & Parmentier, E. 2007 Functional morphology of the sonic apparatus in the fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium profundorum (Gill, 1863). J. Morphol. 268, 953-966.
Howes, G. J. 1992 Notes on the anatomy and classification of ophidiiform fishes with particular reference to the abyssal genus Acanthonus Günther, 1878. Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Zool.) 58, 95-131.
Johnson, M. S., Waybright, T. D., Matt, D. W., Feher, J. J. & Fine, M. L. 2000 Absence of a seasonal cycle in the sonic neuromuscular system of the oyster toadfish. J. Fish Biol. 56, 211-215.
Ladich, F. & Fine, M. L. 2006 Sound-generating mechanisms in fishes: a unique diversity in vertebrates. In Communication in fishes (eds F. Ladich, S. P. Colin, P. Moller & B. G. Kapoor), pp. 3-43. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers.
Mann, D. A. & Jarvis, S. M. 2004 Potential sound production by a deep-sea fish. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 115, 2331-2333.
Mann, D. A., Bowers-Altman, J. & Rountree, R. A. 1997 Sounds produced by the striped cusk-eel Ophidion marginatum (Ophidiidae) during courtship and spawning. Copeia 1997, 610-612.
Nielsen, J. G., Cohen, D. M., Markle, D. F. & Robins, C. R. 1999 Ophidiiform fishes of the world (Order Ophidiiformes), vol. 18. Rome: FAO Species Catalog.
Parmentier, E., Fontenelle, N., Fine, M. L., Vanderwalle, P. & Henrist, C. 2006a Functional morphology of the sonic apparatus in Ophidion barbatum (Teleostei, Ophidiidae). J. Morphol. 267, 1461-1468.
Parmentier, E., Lagardère, J. P., Braquegnier, J. B., Vandewalle, P. & Fine, M. L. 2006b Sound production mechanism in carapid fish: first example with a slow sonic muscle. J. Exp. Biol. 209, 2952-2960.
Rose, J. A. 1961 Anatomy and sexual dimorphism of the swim bladder and vertebral column in Ophidion holbrooki (Pisces: Ophidiidae). Bull. Mar. Sci. 11, 280-308.
Rountree, R. A. & Bowers-Altman, J. 2002 Soniferous behaviour of the striped cusk-eel Ophidon marginatum. Bioacoustics 12, 240-242.
Rowe, S. & Hutchings, J. A. 2004 The function of sound production by Atlantic cod as inferred from patterns of variation in drumming muscle mass. Can. J. Zool. 82, 1391-1398.
Sprague, M. W. & Luczkovich, J. J. 2001 Do striped cuskeels, Ophidium marginatum produce the 'chatter' sound attributed to weakfish, Cynoscion regalis (Sciaenidae)? Copeia 2001, 854-859.
Templeman, W. & Hodder, V. M. 1958 Variation with fish length, sex, stage of sexual maturity and season in the appearance and volume of the drumming muscles of the swimbladder in the haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 15, 355-390.