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AUTHORS: J. Albers, S. Shier, K.M. Lawson, R.D. Calfee, C. Vishy, T. Thompson, and C. Slaugh, U.S. Geological Survey
ABSTRACT: Bighead and silver carpscontinue to spread throughout the Mississippi River Basin and encroach upon the Great Lakes. Recent life history studies of these fish have helped to drive new approaches toward development of possible management actions. Bighead and silver carps are members of the otophysan group, all of which possess a Weberian apparatus that connects the swim bladder to the inner ear. This increases their hearing ability, making them more susceptible to control approaches that use sound. Previous studies determined that complex signals repelled bigheaded carps better than pure tone signals, however trial duration was too short to determine how long it takes for the carp to habituate to the sound. This study was conducted to examine if and when habituation to complex sound occurs. On the first day carps were exposed repeatedly to complex sound, repulsion was observed for 4 hours and 40 minutes, at which point the carps stopped responding negatively and habituation to the sound was suspected. Swim speed and distance swam decreased significantly (p
