ABSTRACT
The damselfishes (Pomacentridae) are one of the most thoroughly investigated and best understood family of acoustic reef fishes (Lobel et al. 2010). Scuba divers can easily hear damselfish sounds without the aid of a hydrophone, particularly when a male is aggressively defending his territory. These features of pomacentrid acoustic behavior make them easily accessible to bioacoustic study (Lobel et al. 2010). In this chapter, we review the different terms that have been used to describe the damselfish calls, summarize the behavior associated with sound production in different genera, and provide some additional information on species in which the sounds have not yet been described. In the next section, we focus on different acoustic characteristics and how they are important in damselfish communication and synthesize data on sound producing mechanisms. Lastly, we postulate about the origin of the sound production mechanism and its use in Pomacentridae.
