Mechanisms of Hearing by Clupeid Fishes

鱼类进入水电站大坝和发电厂的进水口是美国许多地区的一个重大问题。问题有两个方面。首先，许多鱼在遇到水坝或进水口时被杀死，无法逃离快速流动的水。第二，由于大量的鱼类撞击，发电设备可能会受到损害。因此，找到防止鱼类与水坝或发电厂进水口之间相互作用的方法具有相当大的经济重要性。 迄今为止，最成功的方法之一是使用高频声音将这些障碍物中的clupeid鱼类（鲱鱼和亲戚）击退。出于未知的原因，这些商业上重要的物种会远离这些声音。与此同时，我们对鲱类鱼如何探测超声波，或者什么样的声音最能成功地用来击退鱼知之甚少。本研究的目的是检查的clupeids的听觉能力，以更好地了解他们如何检测声音，以及他们检测到的声音，最终目标是开发方法，以更有效地防止clupeids在大坝和发电厂进水口的冲击。

Impingement of fish into hydroelectric dams and water intakes to power plants is a significant problem in many parts of the United States. The problems are two-fold. First, many fish are killed when they encounter the dams or intakes and cannot escape the rapidly flowing water. Second, there is potential damage to the power generating equipment due to the large number of impinged fish. Thus, it is of considerable economic importance to find ways to prevent the interactions between fish and the dams or power plant intakes. One of the most successful methods developed to date is the use of high frequency sound to repel clupeid fishes (herrings and relatives) from these obstacles. For reasons that are yet unknown, these commercially important species swim away from these sounds. At the same time, we know very little about how clupeids detect the ultrasonic sounds, or the kinds of sounds that can be most successfully used to repel the fish. The purpose of this study is to examine the hearing ability of clupeids in order to better understand how they detect sounds, and which sounds they detect, with the ultimate goal being to develop methods to more effectively prevent the impingement of clupeids at dams and power plant intakes.