Multisensory integration in teleost fishes

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The ability of animals to accurately detect and respond to stimuli in their natural environment typically depends on integration of inputs from many different sensory systems. Despite this reliance on multiple sensory inputs much of what we know about sensory function is based on studies of sensory systems in isolation. We know much less about how animals actually integrate information to obtain an overall picture of their external environment. The proposed research will attempt to address this inequity by examining responses of fish first to auditory stimuli and then to stimuli from other systems to see how other systems interact with hearing. This will first be conducted in the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), a highly invasive fish in Canada. We will test responses of gobies using behavioural and physiological approaches to ascertain how the brain processes information from many sensory channels and how this processing affects the ability of the goby to respond to the stimulus. We will then assess how these multisensory responses change as gobies mature into reproductive adults to understand how hormones can remodel sensory systems and brain areas. Assessment of these responses in the round goby will be interesting in its own right, explaining how vertebrates process multiple types of information, but will also be useful in designing mitigation strategies for this invasive species. Upon successful completion of the work in the goby we will then ask similar questions in two other fish species to determine the generality of our observed responses.