Fish Sounds: available on CD

Between 1950 and 1970 Marie Poland Fish and William H. Mowbray recorded sounds made by marine fish. Their collected studies were documented in the printed volume Sounds of Western North Atlantic Fishes: A Reference file of Biological Underwater Sounds published by the Johns Hopkins Press in 1970 (ISBN 8018-1130-9).

Fish and Mowbray made recordings of sounds produced by 153 species of the 220 species of fish they studied. These sound files have been newly transcribed from original archived magnetic tapes onto CDs. The transcribed recordings are of high acoustic quality and faithfully reproduce the original recordings. The sounds range from the "boatwhistle" toots of the oyster toadfish, to the teeth rasps and clicks of the parrotfishes, to the ratchet sounds of the drums and croakers. The species included are from the US Atlantic coast and the Caribbean Islands.

The collection of sounds corresponds directly to the printed sonograms and descriptive materials for each species found in the printed volume. The new CDs are a valuable augmentation to existing copies of the Fish and Mowbray volume. Approximately 341 libraries list this volume in their collection.

The recordings themselves include documentation for each species and can be easily used as a stand-alone collection. The recordings are a useful reference to anyone specifically interested in the sounds made by fishes or in bio-acoustics in general.

The sounds are available as an audio two-compact-disk set. The sounds can be played back on any device that can play standard audio CDs. Each species is recorded as an individual track. A printed index is provided to permit easy location of the sounds for any species.

Copies of the two-CD set can be obtained at:

Fish Sounds
Graduate School of Oceanography
University of Rhode Island
Narragansett Rhode Island, 02882

In addition, there are a very limited number of new, never-distributed copies of the printed Fish and Mowbray volume. Copies of the printed volume plus the CDs can be obtained by sending a check for $140 to the address above.

Questions or other correspondence may be sent by e-mail to <fishsounds@gso.uri.edu>. We are unable to accept orders by e-mail except for international orders.