Blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus, are an invasive species in the James River, VA. They produce stridulation sounds and passive acoustic monitoring may prove useful in locating and monitoring their populations. Little is known about their behavior, therefore my goal was to examine agonistic behavior and the use of sound in defending a territory. This thesis consists of two manuscripts: 1) A passive acoustic study of the tidal freshwater James River, 2) An experimental study of agonistic behavior in juvenile Blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus. The first study showed that three sounds (click, run croak) occurred more often in warmer months than cooler months. The second study showed that Blue catfish utilized a variety of agonistic behaviors in territory defense, with residency status and size having an effect on the type and number of displays used. Stridulation sounds were not present in territorial contests although Blue catfish produce stridulatory pulses when held.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-4458 |
| Date | 05 May 2014 |
| Creators | Morgan, Laura |
| Publisher | VCU Scholars Compass |
| Source Sets | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | © The Author |
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