Full Description

"Males of this species use visual displays and sounds when defending their nests frequently resulting in expulsion of the intruder without escalated confrontation."

"Second, we wanted to verify if the use of agonistic behavior during nest defense, including sound production, differed between males with different genetic relation to offspring."

"Between May and July (reproductive season of Lusitanian toadfish in Portugal), breeding males defend their nests under rocks in shallow waters and attract females to spawn with advertisement calls (boatwhistles) until the roof of the nest is full of eggs and embryos (dos Santos et al., 2000)."

"Nest-holding males defend their nests with the emission of agonistic boatwhistles, frequently resulting in the expulsion of the intruder, or with chases and bites when fights escalate (Vasconcelos et al., 2010)."

"We tallied the number of boatwhistles produced by residents as well as, grunts and other sounds that occurred less frequently. Recordings of sonic muscles contraction activity during some experiments showed that typically only residents produce boatwhistles during territorial intrusions (J. Jordão, personal communication)."

"Thus, acoustic signaling, was the most common reaction to intrusion behavior. Moreover, boatwhistles were the most frequent sound emission, corresponding to 91% of the registered vocalizations as previously observed in this species (Vasconcelos et al., 2010)."

Observation Environment Quotes

"We used an experimental procedure similar to that conducted by Vasconcelos et al. (2010). Concrete nests (internal dimensions: 50 cm long, 30 cm wide and 20 cm height) with a hemicylinder shape capped at one end were placed in the Tagus River estuary (Military Air Force Base 6, Montijo, Portugal; 38° 42_ N; 8° 58_ W). These nests were readily occupied by toadfish in the breeding season and were only exposed to air during spring low tides, when males could be collected. Experimental males (type I) were maintained in round stock tanks (plastic swimmingpools, 2 m diameter and water depth c. 0.5 m), near the intertidal toadfish nesting area. Stock tanks were provided with shelters (roof tiles) to allow them to develop territorial behavior. Experimental tanks were similar to the stock tanks but with 2.5 m diameter and had two nests 50 cm apart from the border."

Behaviour Description Quotes

"Males of this species use visual displays and sounds when defending their nests frequently resulting in expulsion of the intruder without escalated confrontation. "

"Second, we wanted to verify if the use of agonistic behavior during nest defense, including sound production, differed between males with different genetic relation to offspring."

"Between May and July (reproductive season of Lusitanian toadfish in Portugal), breeding males defend their nests under rocks in shallow waters and attract females to spawn with advertisement calls (boatwhistles) until the roof of the nest is full of eggs and embryos (dos Santos et al., 2000)."

Sound Name Quotes

"Between May and July (reproductive season of Lusitanian toadfish in Portugal), breeding males defend their nests under rocks in shallow waters and attract females to spawn with advertisement calls (boatwhistles) until the roof of the nest is full of eggs and embryos (dos Santos et al., 2000)."

" We tallied the number of boatwhistles produced by residents as well as, grunts and other sounds that occurred less frequently. Recordings of sonic muscles contraction activity during some experiments showed that typically only residents produce boatwhistles during territorial intrusions (J. Jordão, personal communication)."