Sound producing muscles in animals

Like humans many other animals both on land and in sea can make sound and use it for different purposes. The sounds are used for recognition, communication, for attracting food and even in mate selection. Sound can also be used for frightening predators and for giving an alarm to other animals.

Sensitive underwater microphones with facilities to amplify and record have been used to show that fish and many other aquatic animals produce a large variety of sounds.

There are dozens of species of fish known which make sound for communication. The fish generally use two parts of their body for sound production - they grind their teeth and use muscles to rub against their air bladders. Teeth grinding produces high pitched raspy notes and sounds produced by contraction of muscles and using air bladder for amplification produce booming sounds.

Frogs croak. Both male frogs and female frogs croak. Male frogs croak louder and females croak somewhat softer as they have no vocal sacs. Both sexes have vocal cords, generally 2 pairs - one false the other true. As we have earlier seen http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/our_... vocal cords are skeletal muscles. Apart from the vocal cords the respiratory muscles like sternohyoid and petrohyoids also help in sound production by increasing and decreasing pressure in mouth cavity and pumping air. In some species the male frogs emit "Release" calls, if grasped by another male, as also is done by unreceptive females. The frogs and toads exhale air while making a call. (Like humans speak/sing etc. while exhaling the air). An exception to this rule are the fire-bellied toads (Bombinator). They produce sounds during inhalation.(ref- ) Frog calls last anywhere from a few milliseconds to trills of several minutes. During calls air is shunted back and forth across larynx between the lungs and the vocal sac. The calls can be heard upto 50meters. You may go to the site given below and listen to the 'release' call, advertisement call, distress call and many other types of calls given by amphibians. http://www.nature.com/nsu/021202/021202-... Xenopus laevis (African clawed toad) a male does not have a vocal sac, but produces a mating call. This is done with contractions of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. The female responds with either an acceptance or a rejection call.

Many insects stridulate that is make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together some specific body structures, like legs of male insects such as crickets or grasshoppers. So the legs of such insects help in sound production and attracting mates.

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