Peripheral neural coding strategies for spectral analysis and sound source location in the nonteleost bony fish, Acipenser fulvescens.

Coding mechanisms for spectral analysis and sound source location were investigated in Acipenser fulvescens, the lake sturgeon. A. fulvescens belongs to one of the few extant nonteleost ray‐finned fishes, with a phylogenetic history that dates back about 200 million years. A shaker system was used to simulate the particle motion component of sound during electrophysiological recordings of isolated single units from the eighth nerve. Data were compared to teleosts and land vertebrates. Peripheral coding strategies for spectral analysis and sound source location in A. fulvescens resembled those found in teleosts. Frequency characteristics generally resembled that of low‐frequency afferents of other fishes and land vertebrates and the auditory periphery in A. fulvescens appears to be well suited to encode the intensity of sound. Eighth nerve afferents responded to directional stimuli in a cosinelike manner (as in teleosts). However, differences from teleosts were found that may have implications for the mech...