image: Midshipman fish have two male reproductive morphs. Type I males (center) build and defend nests under rocky shelters, and vocalize to court females (right) with an advertisement call known as a "hum." Individual hums last for at least one hour and a male will hum repetitively throughout a night, trying to attract a female to his nest. Type I males are also parental -- they alone take care of fertilized eggs and larvae. Smaller type II "sneaker" males (left) do not vocalize to court females, but rather try to sneak into the nest and steal fertilizations from type I males. Both females and sneaker males produce aggressive calls in other contexts. This image relates to article that appeared in the July 18, 2008, issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS. The study, by A.H. Bass at Cornell University in Ithaca and colleagues, was titled "Evolutionary Origins for Social Vocalization in a Vertebrate Hindbrain-Spinal Compartment." view more
Credit: Photo provided by Margaret A. Marchaterre, Cornell University, via <i>Science</i>-AAAS.