Summary
Auditory sensitivity was determined for the oscar, Astronotus ocellatus, a cichlid fish that has no known structural specializations to enhance hearing. Trained A. ocellatus behaviorally responded to sound stimuli from 200 Hz to 800 Hz with best sensitivity of 18 dB (re: 1 μbar) to 21 dB for frequencies between 200 and 400 Hz. This is significantly poorer than hearing sensitivity for fish classified as hearing specialists, but well within the range of hearing capabilities reported for non-specialist teleost species.
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Yan, H.Y., Popper, A.N. Auditory sensitivity of the cichlid fish Astronotus ocellatus (Cuvier). J Comp Physiol A 171, 105–109 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195965
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195965