Behavioural contexts of sound emission in holocentrids : insights

This synthesis addresses acoustic communication in holocentrid fishes, based on the combi- nation of several recent findings from the author’s doctoral thesis and existing literature. To assist readers unfamiliar with the field of acoustic communication, the article begins with an overview of this fascinating discipline, accompanied by a brief introduction to the family Holo- centridae. The manuscript then delves into the knowledge gained about the ethology of acoustic communication in this taxon and demonstrates how these research findings enrich this field of study. These results are the product of several months of research conducted in various regions around the world. An extensive data collection (sound and video recordings) was undertaken across the Indo-Pacific Ocean (Seychelles, Philippines, Guam, French Polynesia). These data document the behavioural contexts of sound production in several holocentrid species, based on about 77 hours of video recordings in the natural environment. Additionally, an experiment was conducted in aquariums to study the behavioural response, including sound production, of a holocentrid species to the introduction of a predator (e.g., a moray eel). The large number of species investigated in this research, along with the combination of data from both the nat- ural environment and laboratory experiments, constitutes to my knowledge, the largest dataset on the ethology of sound production ever collected to understand acoustic communication in teleosts.