Abstract
Sound is increasingly being considered as a method to observe and/or control movements of fish. However, before designing acoustic methods for these tasks, it is necessary to understand how and what fish can hear, and how they respond to different types of sounds. In this paper we review the basic structure of the auditory system and describe the hearing capabilities of teleost fishes. There is considerable interspecific variation in fish ears and in the more peripheral structures associated with hearing (e.g., swim bladder) and this may have consequences for extrapolation of data between species with regard to hearing. There are also significant differences in the frequency range of sounds that may be detected by fishes and in the sensitivity to these sounds, and this certainly affects the nature of the signals that are usable in fish observation and control.
