Microphonic potentials were recorded from the ears of the goldfish during acoustic stimulation in a situation where sound pressure and particle displacement could be varied. Microphonic potentials from fishes with the swim bladder intact were proportional to sound pressure. After removal of the swim bladder, sound pressure sensitivity declined by 20-35 dB and the response was generated in proportion to particle displacement. The ear's sensitivity to direct vibration of the head increases at between -3 and -6 dB/octave between 70 and 1500 Hz and is not affected by the removal of the swim bladder. It is concluded that the peripheral auditory system of the goldfish may function as a pressure detector or as a displacement detector, depending upon the impedance of the applied signal.
In the field: an interview with Sönke Johnsen
(update2)-SonkeJohnsen.jpg?versionId=4006)
Sönke Johnsen is a Professor at Duke University, USA, investigating visual ecology and he talks about his experiences of collecting transparent animals while blue water diving and in a submersible, as well as outrunning Hurricane Katrina.
Call for new preLighters
(update)-CallForPreLighters.png?versionId=4006)
preLights is the preprint highlighting community supported by The Company of Biologists. At the heart of preLights are our preLighters: early-career researchers who select and write about interesting new preprints for the research community. We are currently looking for new preLighters to join our team. Find out more and apply here.
Graham Scott in conversation with Big Biology
Graham Scott talks to Big Biology about the oxygen cascade in mice living on mountaintops, extreme environments for such small organisms. In this JEB-sponsored episode, they discuss the concept of symmorphosis and the evolution of the oxygen cascade.
Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders
-CleanerWrasse.png?versionId=4006)
Bluestreak cleaner wrasse spend their days pecking parasites off the skins of other fish, but now Pauline Narvaez & co have found that they may also be inadvertent super-spreaders. Parasitic flatworms can hitch a ride on the cleaners to reach their next host.
Hearing without a tympanic ear
-Review.png?versionId=4006)
In their Review, Grace Capshaw, Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Catherine Carr explore the mechanisms of hearing in extant atympanate vertebrates and the implications for the early evolution of tympanate hearing.
Social media
