The fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium profundorum (Ophidiidae) has an unusual sound-producing system with sexually dimorphic sets of antagonistic muscles. Outside the mating season, the dorsal and ventral muscles are well developed and larger in males than in females, but the tiny intermediate muscles are smaller, suggesting a minor role, if any, in male advertisement call production. We examined summer individuals with more developed gonads and find a fourfold hypertrophy of the intermediate but not the other muscles. This result suggests androgen dependence and an important role in sound production for the intermediate muscle. Even though both sexes gain weight in the summer, the ventral and dorsal muscles in females lose weight, suggesting that sound production is less important in females and that muscle mass may be used to support egg growth

Fine, M.L.

Lin, H.

Nguyen, T.K.

Parmentier, E.

Open Marine Archive

doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0383
, 707-7104 2008 Biol. Lett.
 
Thanh Kim Nguyen, Hsung Lin, Eric Parmentier and Michael L Fine
 
Lepophidium profundorum
Seasonal variation in sonic muscles in the fawn cusk-eel 
 
 
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doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0383Published online 23 September 2008
Marine biology
Seasonal variation in
sonic muscles in the fawn
cusk-eel Lepophidium
profundorum
Thanh Kim Nguyen1, Hsung Lin1,
Eric Parmentier2 and Michael L. Fine1,*
1Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University,
Richmond, VA 23284-2012, USA
2Laboratoire de Morphologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive,
Universite´ de Lie`ge, 4000 Lie`ge, Belgium
*Author for correspondence (mfine@vcu.edu).
The fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium profundorum
(Ophidiidae) has an unusual sound-producing
system with sexually dimorphic sets of antagon-
istic muscles. Outside the mating season, the
dorsal and ventral muscles are well developed
and larger in males than in females, but the tiny
intermediate muscles are smaller, suggesting a
minor role, if any, in male advertisement call
production. We examined summer individuals
with more developed gonads and find a fourfold
hypertrophy of the intermediate but not the
other muscles. This result suggests androgen
dependence and an important role in sound
production for the intermediate muscle. Even
though both sexes gain weight in the summer,
the ventral and dorsal muscles in females lose
weight, suggesting that sound production is less
important in females and that muscle mass may
be used to support egg growth.
Keywords: acoustic communication; muscle;
sexual dimorphism; seasonal change; sound production;
steroid effects
1. INTRODUCTION
Fish swim-bladder sounds are driven by the fastest
vertebrate muscles (Ladich & Fine 2006), which
produce a forced response so that muscle contraction
rate determines the fundamental frequency of the
sound, i.e. a 200 Hz contraction in the oyster toadfish
produces a fundamental frequency of 200 Hz (Fine
et al. 2001). Recently, we discovered that carapid
fishes produce sounds with slow muscles that stretch
an elastic fenestra on the swim bladder until a catch
is released, causing the bladder to snap back and
produce a sound pulse (Parmentier et al. 2006b).
Unlike other sonic swim-bladder mechanisms, muscle
contraction rate would not determine the frequency
in fishes with slow muscles.
Little is known about acoustic communication in
deep-sea fishes (Mann & Jarvis 2004). Ophidiid fishes,
closely related to carapids, are the dominant group of
benthic deep-sea fishes in tropical and subtropical areas
(Nielsen et al. 1999), and sounds of only one shallow-
water species in the family (Ophidion marginatum)
have been recorded (Mann et al. 1997; Sprague &
Luczkovich 2001; Rountree & Bowers-Altman 2002).Received 10 July 2008
Accepted 1 September 2008 707Ophidion marginatum males produce sounds with anom-
alously high peak frequencies for a swim-bladder
mechanism, above 1 kHz. This frequency is probably
too high to be determined by muscle contraction since
it would require contraction in less than 1 ms. Sonic
anatomy and sexual dimorphism have been examined
in several species in the family (Rose 1961; Courtenay
1971; Carter & Musick 1985; Howes 1992; Casadevall
et al. 1996; Parmentier et al. 2006a; Fine et al. 2007).
The sonic system of the fawn cusk-eel Lepophidium
profundorum uses antagonistic muscle pairs: the ven-
tral and intermediate muscles pull the swim bladder
forward via a modified epineural rib, the wing-like
process, and the dorsal muscle returns the bladder to
its resting position by pulling on a pivoting neural
arch above the first vertebra (Fine et al. 2007). Based
on the swim-bladder fenestra and antagonistic
muscles, it probably uses slow sonic muscles as in
carapids. Fish collected on the continental shelf in the
spring and autumn had dorsal and ventral muscles
that were larger in males than in females. Curiously,
the small intermediate muscles were larger in females,
suggesting a minor role for this muscle in male
advertisement call production (Fine et al. 2007).
Because previous work indicates that sonic muscles
may be androgen sensitive (see §4), we tested the
hypothesis that male intermediate muscles would
hypertrophy in the summer mating season.2. MATERIAL AND METHODS
Fawn cusk-eels were captured on an Atlantic NMFS cruise at
approximately 100 m during July 2006 and frozen on board. Fish
were thawed, weighed and measured for total length (TL). Gonads
were removed, sexed and weighed in mg to calculate the gonoso-
matic index [(GSIZgonad weight/fish weight)!100]. Fish could be
sexed externally by examining the genital region; females have a
cloacal opening not present in males. The right dorsal, intermediate
and ventral muscles were extracted, placed in 0.9 per cent NaCl to
hydrate, blotted and weighed in mg.
Muscle weights were regressed against fish weight, and
regressions from the mating season (M) were compared with
previous data from samples collected in the spring and autumn
(non-mating (NM) season, fish ranged from 5 to 41 g) (Fine et al.
2007) by analysis of covariance using GRAPHPAD PRISM software.
Whole-fish length–weight regressions were log transformed.
Regression equations were used to calculate adjusted means for
a 25 g or 225 mm fish. GSIs for M and NM fish were compared
by a t-test.3. RESULTS
M fawn cusk-eels ranged from 152 to 232 mm TL,
4.3 to 49.8 g in weight and included 28 males and
24 females. The weight of M males and females
increased by 17 and 24 per cent, respectively,
compared with NM fish of 225 mm (figure 1;
table 1), suggesting greater food availability. The GSI
increased (figure 1) from 0.087G0.011 to 0.119G
0.010 in males (t52Z2.452, pZ0.0088) and from
0.976G0.0198 to 1.902G0.152 in females (t59Z
3.773, pZ0.0002), indicating that fish were in or
close to the mating season.
As previously found for NM males and females
(Fine et al. 2007), M fish muscle weight was linearly
correlated with fish weight (table 1; figure 2). The
slopes of male dorsal and ventral muscles did not
change seasonally, but there was a slight drop in
elevations so that adjusted means for a 25 g fish
decreased by approximately 13 and 8 mg, respect-
ively, for the dorsal ( pZ0.005) and ventral musclesThis journal is q 2008 The Royal Society
NM
G
SI
G
SI
M
***
**
2.1 2.2 2.3
log TL (mm)
2.4 2.5
lo
g 
w
ei
gh
t (
g)
lo
g 
w
ei
gh
t (
g)
0 0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
0.60
0.85
1.10
1.35
1.60
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
0
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
(a)
(b)
(i) (ii)
(i) (ii)
Figure 1. (i) Gonosomatic index (GSI) and (ii) log-transformed length–weight regressions of (a) males ((i) pZ0.0088) and
(b) females ((i) pZ0.0002) during mating (M) (open squares) and non-mating (NM) (filled squares) periods.
Table 1. Regression equations of sonic muscle weight against fish weight, coefficients of determination, analysis of covariance
and adjusted means for a 25 g or 225 mm TL fish in male and female Lepophidium profundorum during mating (M) and non-
mating (NM) conditions. DM, dorsal muscle; IMM, intermediate muscle; VM, ventral muscle; Wt, weight.
slopes intercepts
muscle regression equation r2 F p F p
adjusted
mean
male DM NM YZK11.19C3.636X 0.79 F1,50Z0.374 0.543 F1,51Z8.472 0.005 79.71 mg
M YZK34.16C4.036X 0.687 66.74 mg
IMM NM YZ0.799C0.222X 0.565 F1,44Z1.624 0.209 F1,45Z35.23 !0.0001 6.35 mg
M YZ7.901C0.765X 0.115 27.03 mg
VM NM YZ1.472C3.201X 0.755 F1,53Z0.302 0.585 F1,54Z3.952 0.051 81.49 mg
M YZK13.97C3.518X 0.71 73.98 mg
Wtb NM YZK5.876C3.072X 0.915 F1,56Z0.006 0.94 F1,57Z31.80 !0.0001 22.38 g
M YZK5.839C3.091X 0.924 27.01 g
female DM NM YZK6.373C1.769X 0.677 F1,52Z10.92 0.002
a a 37.48 mg
M YZ0.113C0.816X 0.629 19.62 mg
IMM NM YZ2.849C0.424X 0.534 F1,44Z0.026 0.873 F1,45Z5.292 0.026 13.45 mg
M YZK0.005C0.440X 0.759 10.82 mg
VM NM YZK6.197C2.392X 0.758 F1,55Z7.143 0.01
a a 53.60 mg
M YZK1.728C1.593X 0.926 37.46 mg
Wtb NM YZK5.647C2.967X 0.954 F1,54Z8.226 0.006
a a 21.47 g
M YZK6.880C3.543X 0.953 28.43 g
aBecause the slopes differ so much, it was not possible to test whether the intercepts differ significantly.
bLog-transformed regression of the form log YZlog aCb log X. The word ‘log’ was excluded to save space.
708 T. K. Nguyen et al. Seasonal variation in sonic muscles
 on August 27, 2012rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.orgDownloaded from ( pZ0.051). The slope of the intermediate muscle
did not change, but elevation increased dramatically
( p!0.0001): adjusted means increased fourfold from
7 to 27 mg. The adjusted mean for the M intermedi-
ate muscle was 27 and 11 mg in males and females,
respectively. Intermediate muscle weights were bimo-
dal with seven fish overlapping NM data. Fish were
probably in different stages of maturation, and the
GSI did not explain variation in muscle weights
within the M samples.
The slopes of female dorsal (pZ0.002) and ventral
muscles (pZ0.010) decreased as did the elevation of
the intermediate muscle ( pZ0.026) in M fish.
Decreases for adjusted means for the dorsal,Biol. Lett. (2008)intermediate and ventral muscles dropped, respectively,
by 18, 2.6 and 16 mg compared with NM fish.4. DISCUSSION
Sonic muscles are used to produce male advertisement
calls in the shallow-water ophidiid O. marginatum
(Mann et al. 1997). Many male sonic fishes have
sexually dimorphic muscles and are more vocal than
females, and female sonic muscles may be smaller
or even absent (Ladich & Fine 2006). The dorsal
and ventral muscles of fawn cusk-eels are consider-
ably larger in males. The smaller intermediate
muscle in NM males than in females was puzzling
150
100
50
0
150
100
50
60
40
20
0
30
20
10
0
200(a) (i)
(ii)
(iii)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(b)
100
150
50
0
100
50
75
25
0
10
V
M
 w
ei
gh
t (
mg
)
IM
M
 w
ei
gh
t (
mg
)
D
M
 w
ei
gh
t (
mg
)
20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30
weight (g)weight (g)
40 6050
Figure 2. Relationships of muscle weights ((i) dorsal, (ii) intermediate and (iii) ventral muscles) to fish weight for (a) males
and (b) females during mating (open squares) and non-mating (filled squares) periods.
Seasonal variation in sonic muscles T. K. Nguyen et al. 709
 on August 27, 2012rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.orgDownloaded from since the intermediate muscle along with the ventral
muscle attaches to the wing-like process, a modified
epineural rib that pulls the swim bladder forward
during sound production (Fine et al. 2007). The
ventral muscle inserts on the lateral tip, and the
intermediate muscle inserts medially on the ventral
surface of the large spoon-like region of the process
in females and on the anterior half of the dorsal
surface in males.
Muscle fibre diameters are typically smaller in
sonic than in trunk muscles, an adaptation for fatigue
resistance that increases exchange surfaces and
reduces transport distance between myofibrils
and mitochondria (Fine et al. 1990). The dorsal and
ventral fibres in Ophidium barbatum are characteristi-
cally small, but the intermediate muscle fibres are
many-fold larger, almost equivalent to epaxial fibres
(Parmentier et al. 2006a). The large fibres of the
intermediate muscle caused us to question its role in
sound production (Parmentier et al. 2006a). Our
finding of a fourfold hypertrophy of the intermediate
muscle during the summer suggests that it contributes
to male sound production in tandem with the ventral
muscle and that sound production outside the mating
season probably diminishes.
There is considerable overlap in weights of the
dorsal and ventral muscles between seasons, but
elevations drop significantly in some cases because of
several males with smaller muscles (figure 2). We
suggest that the finding is not meaningful biologically.
The 52 and 37 per cent drop in dorsal and ventral
muscle weights in females occurred despite weight
gains in the fish. Sonic muscle atrophy in the mating
season has not been previously seen, and suggestsBiol. Lett. (2008)little, if any, vocal activity and that muscle tissue
catabolism may contribute to egg development.
Androgens stimulate sonic muscle hypertrophy in
the toadfishes Opsanus tau and Porichthys notatus
(Fine & Pennypacker 1986; Brantley et al. 1993)
and weakfish (Connaughton & Taylor 1995), and
seasonal cycles of muscle hypertrophy during the
mating season occur in weakfish (Connaughton &
Taylor 1994; Connaughton et al. 1997), haddock
(Templeman & Hodder 1958) and cod (Rowe &
Hutchings 2004), but not in the oyster toadfish O. tau
(Johnson et al. 2000). Unlike these other fishes, the
cusk-eel produces sound with muscles that are probably
slow and occur in antagonistic pairs (Parmentier et al.
2006b; Fine et al. 2007). The finding of seasonal
hypertrophy of a single muscle suggests androgen
dependence in the intermediate but not the dorsal
and ventral muscles.
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Seasonal variation in sonic muscles in the fawn cusk-eel <i>Lepophidium profundorum</i>

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