FEATURE

So far, scientists
have cataloged
more than
1,000 species of
sound-producing
fish, including the
quillback rockfish.

WHAT DOES
THE FISH SAY?
Researchers are on a quest to log all fish sounds By McKenzie Prillaman
CREDIT

18 SCIENCE NEWS | March 9, 2024

 A
shlee Lillis’ interview subjects don’t talk. The Greek philosopher Aristotle pondered fish
But they have plenty to say through grunts, grunts and squeaks back in the fourth century B.C.
growls, clicks and other odd noises. Even then, he noted that these animals’ “voices” aren’t
“I put my hydrophone — which is our generated in the traditional sense. Instead, fish may
underwater microphone — on the end of a long pole rub or click their bony structures together, contract
and keep sticking it into fish faces,” says Lillis, a marine certain muscles to drum the gas-filled swim bladder or
ecologist who leads Sound Ocean Science, an orga- vibrate stretched tendons in fins like a stringed instru-
nization based in Gqeberha, South Africa, focused on ment. Some fish even expel air out of their rear ends,
international marine research and conservation. aptly named fast repetitive tick, or FRT, sounds. These
Lillis is among a vanguard of researchers around the numerous ways to produce sounds evolved indepen-
world cataloging fish sounds, aiming dently about 33 times in ray-finned
to put a species name to each under- “We need to log fishes, a 2022 study in Ichthyology &
water call. Eavesdropping on — and these sounds Herpetology suggested.
understanding — all that chatter is a pow- Fish “probably have the greatest
erful way to reveal under-the-surface
as quickly diversity of sound-producing mech-
secrets. The idea isn’t novel: Whale as we can anisms across the tree of life,” says
songs have long been used to track before climate marine ecologist Audrey Looby of the
cetacean behavior and migrations. But change and University of Florida Nature Coast
now researchers want to tap into the
far broader symphony of fish sounds.
anthropogenic Biological Station in Cedar Key. Many
known fish sounds are within human
It’s a whale of a task. For instance, stressors affect hearing range, but they’re relatively
take ray-finned fishes. More than the aquatic quiet and occur in an environment
34,000 species make up this largest world.” where we’re not suited to hear well.
group of bony fish, including salmon, Fish hear each other thanks to tiny
MILES PARSONS
eels, herring and the like. But only stones in their heads, which move in
about 1,000 of these species have been documented in response to sound vibrations, triggering signals to
published research to make a ruckus. Those fish span the brain. It’s similar to how human hearing works.
about 130 families, but a 2022 analysis estimates that The animals also have specialized sensory cells
175 families — representing nearly 85 percent of all running down their bodies that detect movement,
species in the ray-finned group — could have sonifer- including sound waves, in the water.
ous species that communicate via sound. Fish sounds can serve different purposes. Some
Fish clamor can reveal a lot: Is there the hubbub of are distress signals, warning others of danger
OPPOSITE PAGE: MIRECCA/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS; THIS PAGE: ANDY CAMPBELL/BIG BLUE TECH DIVING

biodiversity? Has an invasive fish species moved in?

When do conservationists need to put up a “do not
disturb” sign to ensure that human activity doesn’t
disrupt mating season?
Sound recordings can complement more tradi-
tional ways of monitoring, such as catching fish to
examine abundance and health. But beyond deep-
ening our understanding of a largely hidden realm,
there’s an urgency to the task. “We need to log these
sounds as quickly as we can before climate change
and anthropogenic stressors affect the aquatic world”
even more than they already have, says acoustician
Miles Parsons of the Australian Institute of Marine
Science in Perth. Warming waters can push fish to
new places and even alter their sounds, he notes. Lis-
tening in can help track those shifts. “From a science
point of view, the world is changing very quickly.”

Sounds fishy
Humans have known for millennia that fish are noisy
creatures; many age-old common names like drum Ashlee Lillis (shown) and other marine researchers are matching fish grunts, growls
and croaker come from the fish’s distinctive cries. and clicks to specific species to better monitor ecosystems and fish behavior.

www.sciencenews.org | March 9, 2024 19

FEATURE | WHAT DOES THE FISH SAY?

HJR Reefscaping, an environmental consulting group

based in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. “They thought it
was enemy warships, but they were really animals.”
After the war ended, the U.S. Navy hired marine
biologist Marie Poland Fish to investigate. She
began cataloging the sounds of fish and other sea
creatures both in their natural habitats and in labora-
tory tanks at the University of Rhode Island’s campus
in Narragansett. More than two decades later, in
1970, she published a book — accompanied by audio
recordings — with colleague William Mowbray con-
taining analyses of 153 fish species’ sounds out of
220 described species. By the end of her career, Fish
had recorded and examined the sounds of more than
300 marine species.
But that’s merely a drop in the bucket.
Other researchers, including Schärer-Umpierre,
In the wake of or attempting to scare away a predator — noises have resumed that work. For almost 20 years,
World War II, Marie well-known to fishers, Looby says. “A lot of the fish Schärer-Umpierre has been studying the sounds
Poland Fish (shown
listening to catfish) that you catch will make grunting sounds when made by groupers, an assortment of large-mouthed,
began documenting they’re caught.” stout-bodied fishes. She figured out what behaviors
which underwater Other cries indicate aggression, produced when certain noises match up with. Using passive acous-
creatures produce
noise. By the end of fish mark territory or get into fights. Some of the tic monitoring, she now uses that link to track what
her career, she had most ear-piercing noises deal with reproduction. the fish are doing in the wild. Listening to their
studied the sounds of For instance, certain male plainfin midshipman underwater calls helps her spy on these fish without
over 300 species.
(Porichthys notatus), which live off the North Ameri- disturbing them.
can west coast, advertise their reproductive quality Most of the time, groupers are solitary animals
to picky females through an incessant foghorn-like whose sole sounds are alarm calls produced when
hum (SN: 10/29/16, p. 4). in danger. But at specific times of the year, many
“They’re vibrating their swim bladder like crazy,” species travel long distances — up to hundreds of
says marine community ecologist Kieran Cox of kilometers — to tropical waters to reproduce. That
Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. When includes to the Caribbean, where Schärer-Umpierre
he worked on a project involving the species, the studies the fish. The massive, sometimes monthslong
males’ eerie hum would surround him during late gatherings that happen there result in a symphony of
nights in the dark fish tank–filled lab. The louder diverse grouper sounds associated with reproduction.
the mating call, Cox says, the greater the number of Most of the ruckus comes from males. Male red
females drawn in to lay eggs in the male’s cavelike hind groupers (Epinephelus guttatus), for example,
nest for him to fertilize and guard. make distinct noises when fighting over territory,
Still, there’s an ocean (and lake, river and pond) full courting females and preparing to release sperm to
of fish sounds with unknown sources and purposes. fertilize eggs. The latter sound consists of nonstop
Simply noting the variety of sounds, even if the spe- singing for a few hours on nights around the full
cific sources are mysterious, can give glimpses into moon, Schärer-Umpierre says. Females make just
biodiversity and ecosystem health. But the lure of one noise. “It’s a very short grunt that doesn’t really
learning more intimate details of fish lives is spawn- ring very well.”
ing new efforts to solve those mysteries. Groupers are both ecologically and commercially
important in the Caribbean, and sex-specific sounds
Spying on species can help fishery managers better understand what’s
The modern field of underwater bioacoustics had a going on during aggregations, as well as the ratio of
LYNN PELHAM/GETTY IMAGES

fraught start. During World War II, the ocean served males to females. Poor weather can prevent visual
as a battlefield, where submarines kept an ear out surveys, and determining the timing of breeding sea-
for enemy vessels. sons often relies on cutting open females to assess
“The technicians that were listening on the sub- egg development.
marines were hearing all these weird things,” says The sounds can also signal when the groupers are
marine bioacoustician Michelle Schärer-Umpierre of easy targets, leading to overfishing: Many species are

20 SCIENCE NEWS | March 9, 2024

 so focused on reproduction that they don’t swim away drums were more well-known and the Erie Canal is
when danger is near, Schärer-Umpierre explains. a prominent connector to the Hudson River.
To protect groupers during this vulnerable period, In July 2010, he drove south along Lake Champlain
the Caribbean Fishery Management Council, CFMC, and the Champlain Canal for three days, stopping
forbids fishing certain species during breeding. roughly every 10 kilometers to assess the sound-
The red hind’s closed season lasts from December scape, the cacophony of noises below the water’s
through February, and it was first implemented in surface. “I would drop the hydrophone into the
1993 based on the fish’s physical characteristics water and listen for a few minutes — and brr, brr, brr
measured throughout multiple breeding seasons. or silence was out there,” Rountree says.
But more recent passive acoustic monitoring off Based on those recordings, he and a colleague
of western Puerto Rico has shown that this period reported in 2017 in Biological Invasions that Lake
doesn’t quite align with the species’s reproductive Champlain’s drum population probably played a large
schedule, Schärer-Umpierre reported at a meeting part in the migration into the Hudson River. The proj-
of the management council in 2021. ect also showed how quickly and easily such passive
“We have never seen in Puerto Rico, since we sound recordings could be used to snoop on species.
started doing this in 2007, that the red hind aggre- “I did it based on just my free time in a few days,”
gated during the month of December,” she says. says Rountree, who is now primarily an independent
The fish have, however, remained gathered in early bioacoustics consultant known as the Fish Listener
March. Using that data, she’s urging the CFMC, based in Waquoit, Mass.
which creates regional fishery management plans Catching fish, rather than listening for them, is one
for approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce, of the main traditional ways to survey an aquatic envi-
to shift the species’s closed fishing season. ronment. Scientists can make direct measurements

Tracking an interloper Place of origin After discovering an influx of freshwater drums into
Fish sounds aren’t just good for tracking species we the Hudson River, scientists wanted to know where the nonnative species
want to protect; they can help solve other environ- came from. Based on where the sounds of freshwater drums were recorded
in the region, scientists pinpointed Lake Champlain as a source.
mental challenges, too. SOURCE: R.A. ROUNTREE AND F. JUANES/BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS 2017
In 2003, ichthyologist Rodney Rountree, then at
Lake
the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, was Champlain
presenting preliminary data at a scientific meet-
ing in San Antonio. When he played a mystery Lake D
!

sound recorded in the Hudson River in New York, it George

Lake !
struck a chord with a fellow researcher. The listener Ontario !
suspected it was a type of drum, belonging to a col- D !
lection of fishes known for their deep rumble. D
Oneida !
Lake !
The suggestion surprised Rountree; he wasn’t ! ! !
D
aware of any drum species living in the freshwater Erie Can D Moha
al wk
area where the sound was recorded. But he later D! !

found documentation that the freshwater drum

!
!!
Cayuga New York
(Aplodinotus grunniens, whose species name means Lake
“grunting” in Latin) had made its way into the river. D
“It’s going to change the dynamics of the Hudson Seneca D
Lake
River tremendously because it is a very successful
Hudso

river species,” Rountree thought at the time. !

Scientists weren’t sure how established the drums

n

Su
were in the river system, or how they got there. sq
ue
ha
Some speculated that the drums came from the nn
Great Lakes’ native populations. Rountree eyed
a
MATTHEW PETERS AND B. PRICE

Pennsylvania
another potential source: Lake Champlain, which
are
aw

lies north of the Hudson River. Perhaps, he thought,

100 km
el

D
the roughly 100-kilometer-long Champlain Canal New Jersey
Drums recorded
connecting the two bodies of water might be a fish 100
Drums not recorded
km
passageway. As a source, it had largely been ignored, D

Rountree says, possibly because the Great Lakes’

www.sciencenews.org | March 9, 2024 21

FEATURE | WHAT DOES THE FISH SAY?

on fish, though it sometimes requires killing the record sounds for months at a time, and it’s become
animals. More technologically advanced approaches easier and more accessible in recent years. Simple
include using sonar to estimate biomass or tagging underwater recording devices can cost as little as $135
the animals to track their locations. while more advanced versions start at around $3,000.
Such operations can be time-consuming and “We’ve got a situation where now we can very
costly. And, while useful, many represent “a snap- easily collect terabytes and terabytes of data,” says
shot at one point in time,” says acoustician Xavier marine biologist Tim Lamont of Lancaster University
Mouy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric in England. “So there’s all this data that we’ve never
Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science been able to get before.”
Center in Woods Hole, Mass. A deep dive into these underwater symphonies will
Passive acoustic monitoring, on the flip side, can allow scientists to learn more about changes in fish
populations over time and across broad areas, add-
Signature sound For every distinct fish call, scientists characterize the ing a new dimension to traditional survey methods.
pattern of changing frequency, or pitch, and amplitude, or volume, over time. Scientists expect that data will help track large-scale
Visual representations of the sounds of three different species are shown. shifts induced by climate change and other human
influences.
amplitude

For instance, Schärer-Umpierre suspects that

Relative

the Caribbean’s warming waters are pushing the

red hind’s aggregation period even later, as the
fish prefer to spawn when the sea cools to around
Plainfin 26.5° Celsius. And a 2023 study in PeerJ suggests that
Frequency (kHz)
0.6

midshipman
Porichthys increasing water temperatures and ocean acidifica-
notatus tion will enhance how sound travels in some ocean
0.3

regions worldwide, making ship noise there up to

seven decibels louder by the end of the century.
Such human-caused discord can harm a fish’s
4 8 12 ability to find food, reproduce, escape predators
Time (s)
and even induce hearing loss, according to an anal-
ysis that Cox and colleagues published in 2018 in

GRAPHS: FISHSOUNDS.NET (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED); PHOTOS, FROM TOP: MARISA AGARWAL/INATURALIST (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED);
amplitude

Global Change Biology (SN: 3/14/20, p. 13). Listen-

Relative

ing in may help scientists document some of these

changes and push for policies to limit noise pollu-

© BELOW BLUE WATER DIVER/INATURALIST (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED); © EWOUT KNOESTER (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED)
tion. Canada, for instance, is developing the Ocean
Freshwater Noise Strategy as a road map for addressing the
Frequency (kHz)

drum
2

Aplodinotus problem.
grunniens
Modern mysteries
1

Efforts to build repositories of underwater animal

sounds are growing. In 2021, Looby, Cox, Rountree
1 2 and others joined forces to launch the first library
Time (s)
of every known fish that produces sound, according
to published research. Today, the library documents
amplitude

more than 1,000 soniferous fish and holds more than

Relative

1,200 audio recordings.

In 2022, scientists sounded the call for a global
library of underwater biological sounds to detail the
Bocon toadfish ruckus made by every underwater species, from fish
Frequency (kHz)

Amphichthys
1

and mammals to invertebrates. The scientists behind

cryptocentrus
this effort, known as GLUBS, also hope to create a
0.5

data repository for soundscape recordings, a com-

munity science platform where anyone can upload
underwater animal sounds, and an AI-based system
1 2 3 to detect different calls from these recordings.
Time (s)
Researchers are now collecting so much data that

22 SCIENCE NEWS | March 9, 2024

 “the old manual techniques that people used to use
to look for specific calls just aren’t appropriate any-
more,” says Parsons, who is a leader of the GLUBS
effort. Some scientists and companies have already
developed algorithms that can detect specific sounds
in large soundscape recordings. Parsons hopes to
have GLUBS up and running in two years, depend-
ing on funding.
Still, much of what’s recorded leaves people puz-
zled. “In acoustics, you come across hundreds and
hundreds of mystery sounds,” says Jill Munger, who
until recently worked as a marine acoustic analyst at
Conservation Metrics, a company in Santa Cruz, Calif.,
that develops wildlife monitoring tools. The company
has a YouTube channel dedicated to unknown marine
animal sounds, hoping that people around the world
can listen and help identify the cryptic creatures.
New innovations to simplify matching sounds with
species in the wild may also provide crucial clues.
Mouy and colleagues, for instance, have developed can record two weeks of data at a time. One of the most
easy-to-assemble audio-video arrays. A large ver- When testing the array and two smaller versions recent additions to
the list of sound-
sion consists of an open house-shaped structure off the coast of British Columbia, Mouy recorded making fish is the
built from PVC pipes, measuring 2 meters wide, the sounds of a lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus), a lingcod, which
2 meters long and 3 meters high, that fish and species not previously documented in research to inhabits rocky reefs
and ocean bottoms
other critters can swim through. Six hydrophones be soniferous. How the fish, which doesn’t have a off the west coast of
sit at different locations, and their simultaneous swim bladder, produces its pulsating grunt remains North America.
recordings can help pinpoint the source of a sound unknown.
produced inside the structure. Two video cameras Such great unknowns can both frustrate and
point inward to identify the noisemaker. The devices delight. It was Lillis’ annoyance with the lack of
research on fish sounds that led her down the
“shrimp hole” of “interviewing” fish, she says, which
she started doing a little over a year ago. She’s cur-
rently testing various eavesdropping techniques,
including her own version of one of Mouy’s arrays,
to match species to their calls.
Meanwhile, Munger, who’s now at the University
of New Hampshire in Durham, has been obsessed
with a bugling sound heard near both Hawaii and
the Palmyra Atoll farther south. She and colleagues
dubbed the noise “cascading saw” for its shape when
graphed as pitch over time, which resembles saw-
like teeth that rapidly tumble downward. People have
been weighing in, whittling away possible species.
FROM TOP: MAURICIO HANDLER/GETTY IMAGES; K. COX

But the call’s origin still eludes Munger.

“It’s definitely a mystery,” she says. “Everybody
loves a good mystery.”

Explore more
„ Browse the Fish Sounds library at fishsounds.net
„ Help identify mysterious ocean sounds at
youtube.com/@conservationmetrics

New innovations are helping scientists ID more soniferous

species. This array of hydrophones and cameras simultane- McKenzie Prillaman is a freelance science journalist
ously records audio and video of critters swimming through. based in Washington, D.C.

www.sciencenews.org | March 9, 2024 23