Sound characteristics and discrimination of two sympatric holocentrid fishes from the Southwestern Atlantic

Características sonoras e discriminação de dois peixes holocentrídeos simpátricos do Atlântico Sudoeste

Holocentrid fishes produce sounds during specific events such as shelter defense, chases within schools, and situations of stress or threat, including the approach of predators, divers, or in response to handling. This study describes the sound parameters of two sympatric holocentrid species, Holocentrus adscensionis and Myripristis jacobus, from Northeastern Brazil and examines their relationship with morphometric characteristics. These sounds were short in duration (<100 ms), with variable numbers of pulses, pulse periods, and last pulse durations. Frequency parameters were all below 500 Hz. Species-specific acoustic properties were identified, with M. jacobus showing the highest differentiation rate (81.65%) and an overall classification accuracy of 70.25%. In M. jacobus, significant correlations were found between total length and sound parameters, particularly with dominant frequency (R² = 0.50, p < 0.001). These findings expand the knowledge of the acoustic properties of holocentrids and reinforce the importance of further investigating sound production in marine organisms of the Southwestern Atlantic.

Keywords:
bioacoustics; Holocentridae; reef fish; sound parameters; species differentiation; species-specific sounds