Journal of Zoology. Print ISSN 0952-8369 Sexual dimorphism in the sonic system and otolith morphology of Neobythites gilli (Ophidiiformes) E. Parmentier1 , R. Boistel2, M. A. Bahri3, A. Plenevaux3 & W. Schwarzhans4 1 Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Morphology, AFFISH-RC, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium 2 Universite de Poitiers - UFR SFA, iPHEP, UMR CNRS 7262, Poitiers, France 3 Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium 4 Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark Keywords Abstract sonic muscles; deep-sea; acoustic communication; sagitta; sexual dimorphism; Although males and females of many sound-producing fish species may show dif- Neobythites gilli; otolith; sonic apparatus. ferences at the level of the sonic apparatus, otoliths are usually species specific having intraspecific variation only if exposed to different environmental condition Correspondence or in relation with the fish size. This study reports sexual dimorphism at the level E. Parmentier, Laboratory of Functional and of both otolith shape and sonic apparatus in the ophidiid Neobythites gilli.Asitis Evolutionary Morphology, AFFISH-RC, the case in other Neobythites species, sound-producing apparatus is better devel- University of Liege, B6c, Liege, Belgium. oped in males. Due to their way of life in darker or deep waters, differences at the Tel: ++3243665024 level of the sound-producing apparatus support more constraints related to acoustic Email:
[email protected] communication for sex recognition or mate localization. Otolith modifications con- cern only Neobythites male specimens, whereas otolith of females are virtually Editor: Jean-Nicolas Volff unchanged when compared to sister species without sexual dimorphism, meaning this feature would not be related to sexually induced differences in calling.