title: Seasonal plasticity of auditory saccular sensitivity in "sneaker" type II male plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus.
abstract: Adult female and nesting (type I) male midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus) exhibit an adaptive form of auditory plasticity for the enhanced detection of social acoustic signals. Whether this adaptive plasticity also occurs in "sneaker" type II males is unknown. Here, we characterize auditory-evoked potentials recorded from hair cells in the saccule of reproductive and non-reproductive "sneaker" type II male midshipman to determine whether this sexual phenotype exhibits seasonal, reproductive state-dependent changes in auditory sensitivity and frequency response to behaviorally relevant auditory stimuli. Saccular potentials were recorded from the middle and caudal region of the saccule while sound was presented via an underwater speaker. Our results indicate saccular hair cells from reproductive type II males had thresholds based on measures of sound pressure and acceleration (re. 1 µPa and 1 ms-2, respectively) that were ~8-21 dB lower than non-reproductive type II males across a broad range of frequencies, which include the dominant higher frequencies in type I male vocalizations. This increase in type II auditory sensitivity may potentially facilitate eavesdropping by sneaker males and their assessment of vocal type I males for the selection of cuckoldry sites during the breeding season.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1525, USA.
authors.forename: Ashwin A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bhandiwad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1525, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Whitchurch
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1525, USA.|Laboratoire de Morphologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Liège, Institut de Chimie, Bât. B6c, Quartier Agora, 4000, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Orphal
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Colleye
authors.affiliation: JASCO Applied Sciences, Silver Springs, MD, 20902, USA.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Zeddies
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1525, USA. sisneros@uw.edu.|Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1800, USA. sisneros@uw.edu.|Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-7923, USA. sisneros@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sisneros
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D024541:Batrachoidiformes / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D012444:Saccule and Utricle / Q000502:physiology*; D012621:Seasons
keywords: Hair cells; Hearing; Particle acceleration; Saccule; Teleost