North Queensland Damselfish singing a unique love song
Reef wildlife
The love language of Damselfish on the northern Great Barrier Reef has a different accent to that of those in Western Australia, according to research done through the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Scientists from AIMS and the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University found “local dialects and environmental conditions” appear to influence how sounds are made by the small black-and-white fish during courtship rituals.
Lead author Juan Carlos Azofeifa-Solano said fish studied at Lizard Island made shorter, faster pulses, while those at Coral Bay in WA produced slower, more drawn-out calls.
“The courtship calls of these fish are like a regional accent,” Mr Azofeifa-Solano said.
“Some species of fish have call characteristics that can change with location.”
He said environmental factors may also play a part, as the two studies were done at different times of the year during different temperature ranges.
The co-authors on the research were from AIMS, CMST, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, The University of Western Australia, and The University of Auckland.
The study has been published at Uncovering the acoustic ecology of sympatric coral-dwelling fish with portable audio-video arrays | Scientific Reports.
