Potential sound production by a deep-sea fish

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Bioacoustics
• Deep-Sea Ecology

Background:

• The sonic muscles of deep-sea fishes were described over 35 years ago.
• No recordings of probable deep-sea fish sounds have been published until now.
• Understanding deep-sea fish communication is limited due to the challenges of observation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To isolate and localize a sound likely produced by a deep-sea fish.
• To analyze the characteristics of this novel deep-sea fish sound.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of identifying deep-sea sound producers in situ.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of acoustic recordings from four deep-sea hydrophones at the AUTEC test range.
• Localization of the sound using time-of-arrival differences between hydrophones.
• Real-time sound localization to facilitate identification of the sound source.

Main Results:

• A pulsed, low-frequency (800-1000 Hz) sound, characteristic of fish vocalizations, was isolated.
• The sound was localized to a depth of 548-696 meters.
• The sound source was pinpointed in an area where the seafloor was 1620 meters deep.

Conclusions:

• This study presents the first published recording and localization of a probable deep-sea fish sound.
• Real-time localization capability is crucial for identifying the biological source of underwater sounds.
• Further research using remotely operated vehicles can now target specific locations to identify the fish species responsible for these sounds.