Results 



The length-width, length-weight, and width- 

 weight relationships are summarized in Table 1. 

 All relationships were characterized by very high 

 correlation coefficients. No relationships between 

 length, width, and weight have previously been 

 reported for C. bairdi. 



male's internal state. Calling rate has been man- 

 ipulated experimentally (Winn 1967, 1972; Fish 

 1972; Fish and Offutt 1972), but no one has studied 

 the calling rate of undisturbed individual fish. 

 This note is a preliminary attempt to look at these 

 twin problems ( when and how fast toadfish call) by 

 recording the boatwhistles of individual males on 

 their nests. 



TABLE 1. — Length- width, length- weight, and width- weight re- 

 lationships for mature male Chionocoetes bairdi. 

 ISample size was 240 animals for each relationship] 



Relationship 



Coefficient 



Formula 



Length -width 

 Length-weight 

 Width -weight 



0.96 

 099 

 0.99 



W = 

 log, IW = 



iog, wt = 



3.584 + 1.268/. 

 -3.076 + 2.956 log, L 

 3.363 + 2.936 log 10 W 



Literature Cited 



Alaska Department of fish and Game. 



1975. Alaska 1974 catch and production, commercial 



fisheries statistics. Alaska Dep. Fish Game Stat. Leafl. 



27, 49 p. 

 KARINEN, J. F., AND D. T. HOOPES. 



1971. Occurrence of Tanner crabs ( Ch ionocoetes sp. ) in the 



Bering Sea with characteristics intermediate between C. 



bairdi and C. opilio. (Abstr.) Proc. Natl. Shellf. Assoc. 



61:8-9. 



DUANE E. PHINNEY 



Alaska Department of Fish and Game 



Kodiak, AK 99615 



Present address: Washington Department of Fisheries 



Olympia, WA 98504 



Materials and Methods 



Terra cotta drainage tiles were set out individu- 

 ally adjacent to the pilings of a dock at Solomons, 

 Md. Male toadfish which settled into three of the 

 tiles started calling, and the calls were moni- 

 tored between 9 and 15 June 1969. Because of 

 changing tapes and mechanical problems, the re- 

 cord was not continuous. The recording system 

 consisted of individual Clevite 1 oyster (CH 15-J) 

 hydrophones with their own General Electric 

 Phono-Mic preamplifiers (UPX-003C) and a Preci- 

 sion Instrument Model 207 multichannel tape re- 

 corder. The gain was turned down so that only 

 boatwhistles from the fish in the tile adjacent to 

 the hydrophone would present a loud signal. The 

 tapes were transduced onto strip chart paper 

 (Bruel and Kjaer level recorder type 2305), and 

 segments equivalent to 6 min of real time were 

 continuously marked on the chart paper. The 

 number of boatwhistles in each segment was 

 counted. 



Results 



TEMPORAL ASPECTS OF CALLING BEHAVIOR 

 IN THE OYSTER TOADFISH, OPSANUS TAU 



The oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau (Linnaeus), pro- 

 duces two calls: an agonistic grunt and a boatwhis- 

 tle associated with courtship (Fish 1954; Tavolga 

 1958, 1960; Gray and Winn 1961). The boatwhis- 

 tle is produced only by males on nests (Gray and 

 Winn 1961) and is endogenously driven as well as 

 influenced by calling of surrounding males (Winn 

 1964, 1967, 1972; Fish 1972). A toadfish, not hear- 

 ing other males, may still boatwhistle for long 

 periods and attract a female. Although toadfish 

 may be influenced to call by the calling of adjacent 

 males, one would assume the circadian patterning 

 of the boatwhistle to be influenced by photoperiod 

 and the fish's behavioral strategy relative to it. 

 Additionally, the rate of calling may be a key to a 



The activity patterns for the three fish appear 

 aperiodic (Figure 1; Table 1). All of the animals 

 called both day and night ( 1 1 calling periods day, 9 

 night), and the total number of boatwhistles pro- 

 duced for day and night was similar (7,905 day, 

 6,202 night). Considering the data on a calls-per- 

 hour basis, since daylight hours exceed nighttime 

 in June, does not appreciably alter the results. The 

 fish averaged 41.3 boatwhistles/h during the day 

 and46.1/h at night from recordings covering 191.5 

 h of daylight and 134.5 h of darkness. Not only 

 were crepuscular peaks absent, but dawn and 

 dusk appeared irrelevant as cues for calling be- 

 havior. There are similarities between certain 

 periods in the data, such as the nights of 14 and 15 

 June for channel 2, but these similarities are a 



1 Reference to trade names does not imply endorsement by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



871 



