12 May 2017
By Sandrine Ceurstemont
Hear them roar. Lionfish have
been recorded making sounds for the first time.
Decoding these sounds could give
us an insight into secret lives of this voracious invasive species – and help
us keep tabs on its spread.
Many fish produce sounds to
communicate with each other as
low-pitched noises travel far underwater. “It’s a dominant mode of
communication,” says Alex Bogdanoff
at North Carolina State University.
Bogdanoff and his team decided to
investigate the lionfish’s ability to produce sound after hearing reports from
several divers that they make noises. This invasive species has been spreading
through the Caribbean and east coast of the US. They often devour several
organisms at a time, which is drastically reducing some native fish populations
and altering ecosystems.
Underwater soundscape
The team recorded the underwater
soundscape in an outdoor tank for five days, at first with a single lionfish
and then with a group of five individuals. Occasionally, they stirred up the
water with a net to see whether stress caused the fish to make different
sounds.
The team found that the fish
often produced a rhythmic sound similar to a heartbeat and to calls made by
other fish. But they also produced another noise made up of a much quicker
series of beats (listen to the audio file, below). “It sounds like the rapid
beating of a drum,” says Bogdanoff.
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