Does fish species Baltic Herring [Clupea Harengus Membras] can be considered the same sensitive to underwater noise (Hearing specialist) as Atlantic Herring [Clupea Harengus] as researchers usually note that extrapolation within the species should be not made or made with extra precautions?
To be on the safe side, it seems fair to assume that both the Baltic herring and the Atlantic herring have the same sensitivity to underwater noise. The two taxa are very close, with a only few minor external characters differing, so it seems safe to assume that the gross anatomy, physiology, and also sensitivity are very similar.
Clupeids have a broad range of hearing, particularly herrings. Alosa can detect up to 180 kHz. Most of this specialization comes from the structure of the utricular otolith. I am not aware of major difference in the inner ear structure between these two subspecies of Clupea, so I would assume that they both have similar hearing sensitivities (Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, hear from 100-5000Hz, according to Mann et al. 2005). See the attached review by Popper et al. 2004 for a discussion. Maybe you will find something useful in it.
I would add two comments: first, that the sensitivities mentioned are likely mean sensitivities - that is, that an individual of one subspecies might vary in sensitivity compared to an individual of the other subspecies in a way that differs from the overall tendencies of the two subspecies. Also, your statement that extrapolation within a species should be done carefully is worthwhile as far as it goes, but I think few experts would dispute the assumption of similar sensitivity to sound between subspecies.
You have developed a perfectly testable hypothesis regarding the sensitivity spectra of herrings, and I hope you can pursue it. Similar comments apply to cod.
Higgs 2004 "Neuroethology and sensory ecology of teleost ultrasound detection" I supose best answer is in this paper.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Immunology