Scientists listen in on a world of underwater sound. Listen up:
via USFWS
When Aaron Rice eavesdrops on a conversation, he hears plenty of pops, purrs, clicks and grunts.
As Research Associate at the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, he listens to fish. The sounds usually have something to do with aggression or reproduction – and some are loud.
Rice: “You can hear them just honking away as the males protect their nests and try to attract females to them.”
Other sounds are too quiet for human ears, but fish are built for underwater hearing —
Rice: “They are 85% water and so sound waves travel through them pretty readily.”
Rice and others use the sound to learn more about fish habits and to track their distribution.
Hear More:
Listen to Aaron Rice talk more about fish sounds:
Get Schooled:
- Learn more about how passive acoustics can be used in fisheries, from MIT SeaGrant..
- Hear Aaron Rice talk more about marine bioacoustics in this video from CPNAS.
The Fine Print:
- This segment was produced with Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.
