Studies of soniferous fishes (vocal behavior of fish)

Studies on Soniferous Fishes

Soniferous fish ecology - Do fish make sounds? What do they sound like? Why do they make sounds? The answer to the first question is YES! In fact, over 150 species on the East Coast of the U.S. can vocalize. And that's likely to be a vast underestimate, because few scientists have attempted to study fish sounds in our temperate coastal waters. Worldwide an estimated 800 species produce biological sounds; again a vast underestimate. The answer to the second question can be found throughout my web page where your can download and listen to a number of fish sounds, both from known and unknown sources. The study of soniferous fish behavior (soniferous just means sound producing) and the applications of passive acoustics technology to fisheries and to the exploration of the sea is one of my major new research interests. Passive Acoustics is the science of simply listing to underwater sounds and used non-invasive technologies such as a simple hydrophone (or underwater microphone), as opposed to "Active Acoustics" that uses sound signals generated by machines to obtain biological/environmental information. On this web page you can find brief summaries of some of my current passive acoustics research projects. Those interested in more detailed information can download published papers and reports from my CV page.

Table of contents Click on the highlights to learn more.

1) Workshop on passive acoustic applications to fisheries (http://seagrant.mit.edu/cfer/acoustics/index.html.

2) Underwater sounds of the Hudson River at The River Project site in NYC (river mile 2), and at the Tivoli Bay NERR cite (mile 95). Pilot study of the soniferous fishes of the Hudson River conducted by then undergraduate student Katie Anderson, under supervision of myself and Francis Juanes of UMASS Amherst. During this pilot study we were amazed at the high occurrence of unknown fish sounds. We have posted many examples on our page. Note, Katie recently published here finding in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (see my CV for the full reference). Click here to go to Katie's web page (some pictures take time to load).

3) Sounds of haddock and other fish on the fishing grounds of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and Jeffries Ledge in the Gulf of Maine. This is part of a collaborative study with commercial fishermen to record fish spawning sounds. So far we have positively identified haddock. Now we are working to quantify the daily pattern of haddock vocal activity through a new Sea Grant funded project.

4) 8 April 2008 NY Times article on fish sounds! By Nonny de la Penna. Cites recent research by several scientists working in the field. Be sure to go to the video link! (oops, you may notice the NY Times misidentified some of the fish pictures). The story was also picked up on Commedy Cental with a clip from the Colbert Report (Go to the video link labeled Tip/Wag Rain). Cusk-eel information can be found on the cusk-eel page and in the Listening to Fish book.

5) Listening to Fish: New Discoveries in Science. I have writen an e-book on passive acoustics for kids grades 5-12 and interested adults. The book describes passive acoustics and its applications to fisheries and the exploration of the seas. It includes audio and video clips of fish sounds and fish behavior. Thanks to all my colleagues for their input!

6) Underwater sounds from Gilligan's Island! While on a short trip to Hawaii I had the chance to play around on Gilligan's Island. I provide a brief summary of my exploratory sampling as an example of how one might begin a low budget pilot project in a new area. Along the way, I made the first known recording of the underwater sounds of the marine toad Bufo marinus.

7) First survey of underwater sounds in the major river systems of New England. I have recently been funded to conduct an initial pilot study to survey the underwater soundscape of four major river systems in New England for the first time.

8) Links to other web pages I've set up a links page to fish passive acoustics research sites of other researchers. I also include web pages with galleries of fish sounds and some on general bioacoustics and whale acoustics. Links to hydrophone and acoustic software companies are also included.

9) Soniferous fishes on Stellwagen Bank. This page describes our pilot study of the Soniferous fishes of Stellwagen Bank funded by the NE-NURC Program. We were suprised by the low occurrence of fish sounds, but did make the first recordings of cusk (Brosme brosme, not related to the cusk-eel at all) in North American waters.

10) Soniferous fishes on the Fishing grounds of New England. Describes preliminary findings from an on going study by Cliff Goudey, Ken Enkstrom (MIT Sea Grant) and myself in cooperation with commercial fishermen to record underwater sounds of fishes on the fishing grounds of Casco Bay, Jefferies Ledge and Stellwagen Banks. So far we have identified the spawning calls of haddock and recorded other unidentified fish sounds (and of course whale sounds). We are currently working to quantify the daily pattern of haddock calling frequency to determine haddock daily spawning patterns.

11) These pages provide links to gallaries of fish sounds.

Sounds of NW Atlantic Fishes

NOTE that many of these sounds are very quiet and you will need to use headphones to hear them. You may also need to amplify the sounds in some cases.

My gallery of underwater sounds.

12) Striped cusk-eel, Ophidion marginatum.

I am currently conducting field studies of the soniferous behavior and reproductive ecology of the striped cusk-eel, Ophidion marginatum, to complement a laboratory study made by myself and Jeanette Bowers-Altman some time ago. Recently I have recorded cusk-eels in Cape Cod and New Bedford Harbors in MA. NEW!! I have redigitized some cuskeel movie clips.

13) Miscellaneous field studies

This page describes on going pilot field studies of soniferous fishes in various localities, including New Jersey, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Narragansett Sound, RI, and Florida (see also, links under Stellwagen Bank and cusk-eel studies)

14) Future of passive acoustics research.

Outline of some of the uses of passive acoustics in fisheries science and marine and aquatic ecology, including monitoring of fish/invertebrate calling activity as a tool for the study of temporal and spatial habitat use patterns. Potential of passive acoustic fish monitoring techniques for the study of inter- and intra-specific behavioral interactions among marine fishes and invertebrates. I'm also excited about the potential for collaborations to develop regional inshore and offshore fish "Listening Posts" that can be accessed via the internet by scientists and the general public. I believe these applications will become an important tool for the census of marine life in estuarine, coastal and open marine ecosystems, as well as in freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Click on the links below to find out more:

Potential applications of passive acoustics to fisheries and aquatic ecology

Funding and research priorities for passive applications to fisheries"

International Workshop on passive acoustics applications to fisheries (http://seagrant.mit.edu/cfer/acoustics/index.html).

Rountree, R.A., R.G. Gilmore, C.A. Goudey, A.D. Hawkins, J. Luczkovich, and D. Mann. 2006. Listening to Fish: applications of passive acoustics to fisheries science. Fisheries 31(9):433-446. download pdf file

Rountree, R.A., C. Goudey, T. Hawkins, J. Luczkovich and D. Mann. 2003. Listening to Fish: Passive Acoustic Applications in Marine Fisheries. Sea Grant Digital Oceans. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sea Grant College Program. MITSG 0301. 36 p. Available as pdf online

Rountree, R.A., C. Goudey, and T. Hawkins. Editors. 2003. Listening to Fish: Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Applications of Passive Acoustics to Fisheries. April 8-10, 2002. Dedham, MA. MIT Sea Grant Technical Report MITSG 03-2. Available as pdf

Rountree, R.A., P.J. Perkins, R.D. Kenney, and K.R. Hinga. 2002. Sounds of Western North Atlantic Fishes: Data rescue. Bioacoustics 12(2/3):242-244.

Listening to Fish: New Discoveries in Science Available as a pdf file.

15) Directory of scientists interested in the ecology of soniferous fishes

This web page provides an early draft, which is unfortunately badly outdated at this time and of limited use. If you would like to be listed on this directory please contact me and provide me with appropriate information.

NEW!! Links to other web pages I've set up a links page to fish passive acoustics research sites of other researchers. I also include web pages with galleries of fish sounds and some on general bioacoustics and whale acoustics. Links to hydrophone and acoustic software companies are also included.

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This page was last modified on 21 Feb, 2009