Interspecific variation of calls in clownfishes: degree of similarity in closely related species

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Dborah Lanterbecq¹  Pierre Vandewalle²  Orphal Colleye³ 

[1] Centre de Recherche Insulaire et Observatoire de lEnvironnement (CRIOBE), USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE, French Polynesia;Laboratoire de Biologie Marine, Universit de Mons-Hainaut, Mons, Belgium;Laboratoire de Morphologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Universit de Lige, Lige, Belgium

关键词: Pomacentridae;    clownfish;    evolution;    biogeography;    sound production;    sympatry;    hierarchy;    size;    frequency;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2148-11-365

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: BioMed Central

【 摘 要 】

Clownfishes are colorful coral reef fishes living in groups in association with sea anemones throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Within their small societies, size hierarchy determines which fish have access to reproduction. These fishes are also prolific callers whose aggressive sounds seem to play an important role in the social hierarchy. Agonistic interactions being involved in daily behaviour suggest how acoustic communication might play an important role in clownfish group. Sounds were recorded and compared in fourteen clownfish species (some of which have never been recorded before) to evaluate the potential role of acoustic communication as an evolutionary driving force. Surprisingly, the relationship between fish size and both dominant frequency and pulse duration is not only species-specific; all the specimens of the 14 species are situated on exactly the same slope, which means the size of any Amphiprion can be predicted by both acoustic features. The number of pulses broadly overlaps among species, whereas the pulse period displays the most variation even if it shows overlap among sympatric species. Sound comparisons between three species (A. akallopisos, A. ocellaris and A. frenatus) having different types of teeth and body shape do not show differences neither in the acoustic waveform nor in the power spectrum. Significant overlap in acoustic features demonstrates that the sound-producing mechanism is highly conservative among species. Differences in the calls of some species are due to size dimorphism and the sound variation might be in this case a by-product. This morphological constraint does not permit a consideration of acoustic communication as the main driving force in the diversification of clownfishes. Moreover, calls are not produced to find mate and consequently are less subject to variations due to partner preference, which restricts the constraints of diversification. Calls are produced to reach and defend the competition to mate access. However, differences in the pulse period between cohabiting species show that, in some case, sounds can help to differentiate the species, to prevent competition between cohabiting species and to promote the diversification of taxa.

【 授权许可】

CC BY