The Neotropical catfish Pterygoplichthys pardalis produces a harsh stridulation sound upon manual capture. This stridulation sound is made on the abduction of the pectoral fin spine, and is accomplished by friction of a ridged dorsal condyle against a rough spinal fossa of the cleithrum in the pectoral girdle. The sound produced has an average frequency of 121 Hz, and is used with other anti-predator adaptations such as bony subdermal armor and defensive fin-spreading. Pterygoplichthys pardalis does not display behavioral modification in response to conspecific stridulation sound, and therefore it is likely that stridulation sound in P. pardalis is being used as a predator deterrent.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-5169 |
| Date | 17 January 2018 |
| Creators | Slusher, Monique Renee |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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