Mating in midshipman fish depends on auditory communication, the production and reception of sound signals.
Feeding 11-ketotestosterone coated scallops to toadfish increases their calling behavior,[7] which identifies 11-ketotestosterone, an androgen hormone, as a mediator of midshipman fish vocalization.
Estradiol steroids and their receptors are present in the same areas already concluded to be involved in male midshipman calling.
[12] The two motor nuclei fire in phase in toadfish, leading to the paired contraction of the sonic muscles.
[5] Although midshipman fish have been known to awaken houseboat owners,[14] research surrounding their vocalizations could be beneficial to humans.
Recently, it was found that midshipman fish can decrease their own hearing sensitivity by stiffening their inner ear hair cells while they are vibrating their calling muscles.
[15] This behavior is also found in bats, and may lead to an understanding a similar mechanism humans use to turn down their ear sensitivity to retain their hearing longer.
[14] There are conserved patterns of vocal, auditory, and neuroendocrine mechanisms between teleosts and tetrapods, which include midshipman fish and humans, respectively.
This model organisms’ simple system could lead to a deeper understanding of human speech and auditory pathways,.
[1][5][16] This evolutionary connection could be important in modern medicine because these fish have homologous brain structures to humans.
Morrow observed that choruses of multiple toadfish shift leadership based on call and response by strong individuals.
He notated the patterns for human performance, in one version numbering each individual for identification and spatial location.
New York Times music critic, John Rockwell, wrote a review with the headline, "Fish Silent".