The Behavioral and Neurobiological Response to Sound Stress in Salmon.

Introduction: Noise associated with human activities in aquatic environments can affect the physiology and behavior of aquatic species which may have consequences at the population and ecosystem levels. Low-frequency sound is particularly stressful for fish since it is an important factor in predator-prey interactions. Even though behavioral and physiological studies have been conducted to assess the effects of sound on fish species, neurobiological studies are still lacking.

Methods: In this study, we exposed farmed salmon to low-frequency sound for 5 min a day for 30 trials and conducted behavioral observations and tissue sampling before sound exposure (timepoint zero; T0) and after 1 (T1), 10 (T2), 20 (T3), and 30 (T4) exposures, to assess markers of stress. These included plasma cortisol, neuronal activity, monoaminergic signaling, and gene expression in 4 areas of the forebrain.

Results: We found that sound exposure induced an activation of the stress response by eliciting an initial startle behavioral response, together with increased plasma cortisol levels and a decrease in neuronal activity in the hypothalamic tubercular nuclei (TN). At T3 and T4 salmon showed a degree of habituation in their behavioral and cortisol response. However, at T4, salmon showed signs of chronic stress with increased serotonergic activity levels in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial pallium, the preoptic area, and the TN, as well as an inhibition of growth and reproduction transcripts in the TN.

Conclusions: Together, our results suggest that prolonged exposure to sound results in chronic stress that leads to neurological changes which suggest a reduction of life fitness traits.