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Hearing thresholds of swimming Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis

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Abstract

Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) is a highly migratory, commercially valuable species potentially vulnerable to acoustic noise generated from human activities which could impact behavior and fitness. Although significant efforts have been made to understand hearing abilities of fishes, the large size and need to continuously swim for respiration have hindered investigations with tuna and other large pelagic species. In this study, Pacific bluefin tuna were trained to respond to a pure tone sound stimulus ranging 325–800 Hz and their hearing abilities quantified using a staircase psychophysical technique. Hearing was most sensitive from 400 to 500 Hz in terms of particle motion (radial acceleration −88 dB re 1 m s−2; vertical acceleration −86 dB re 1 m s−2) and sound pressure (83 dB re 1 μPa). Compared to yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis), Pacific bluefin tuna has a similar bandwidth of hearing and best frequency, but greater sensitivity overall. Careful calibration of the sound stimulus and experimental tank environment, as well as the adoption of behavioral methodology, demonstrates an experimental approach highly effective for the study of large fish species in the laboratory.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank E. Estess for assistance maintaining experimental equipment and help with general logistics, Dave Trivett for his participation in the initiation and early planning of this research and for providing expertise on flow noise issues, and Van Biesel for development of the data acquisition system used for tank acoustic field characterization. We also want to thank Drs. Richard R. Fay, Anthony D. Hawkins, Robert Iversen, William N. Tavolga, and two anonymous reviewers for providing insightful comments that improved the MS. This study was supported in part by an Office of Naval Research/Chief of Naval Research Challenge Grant: “Mitigation of flow noise effects by fish” #N00014-11-1-0620, and the Rae and Frank Neely Chair at Georgia Tech. All experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with Stanford University institutional animal use protocols.

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Correspondence to Jonathan J. Dale.

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The authors dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. William Keith. Bill participated in some of the earlier calibrations of the sound field for this project and asked provocative questions that helped improve experimental design. All the authors valued the opportunity to get to know Bill as colleague and friend, and were deeply saddened at his passing.

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Dale, J.J., Gray, M.D., Popper, A.N. et al. Hearing thresholds of swimming Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis . J Comp Physiol A 201, 441–454 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-015-0991-x

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