This site contains a collection of fish sounds recorded by The Sciaenid Acoustics Research Team at East Carolina University. Please address and questions or comments concerning this site to Mark Sprague (email: spraguem@ecu.edu).

Faculty Members

• Joe Luczkovich - Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources and Department of Biology, East Carolina University, email: luczkovichj@ecu.edu
• Mark Sprague - Department of Physics, East Carolina University, email: spraguem@ecu.edu
• Hal Daniel - Department of Biology, East Carolina University

Background

The ocean is often believed to be a silent and tranquil place, but nothing could be farther from the truth. If you lower a hydrophone into the water you will hear noises produced by breaking waves, turbulence, boats and ships, as well as noises produced by marine animals. Animals that produce noises in the inshore waters of North Carolina include marine mammals (like dolphins and whales), snapping shrimp, oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), members of the family Sciaenidae (drums and croakers), and many other fish species.

Three members of the family Sciaenidae that are important to the North Carolina commercial and recreational fisheries are the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), weakfish (Cynoscion regalis), and the red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). These three species generate millions of dollars in revenue anually in North Carolina alone. Also, the health of these fish species is an indicator of the condition of the coastal ecosystem of which they are part.

There is concern that the numbers and catches of these species are declining in North Carolina and elsewhere. Scientists from the East Carolina University Departments of Physics, Biology, and the Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources are addressing this concern by using acoustics to identify species spawning grounds, estimate the size and age of the fish in the spawning populations, and estimate the size of the spawning population. The techniques developed by this study will allow us to determine what areas are important for spawning activities and to better evaluate the health of these valuable species.

Soniferous Fishes

(Note: No that is not a grammatical error! The word "fishes" is the plural of species of fish. If you are talking about two red drum, you say "two fish," but if you are talking about red drum and weakfish, you say "two fishes.")

Fish and Mowbray (1970) list 208 species of fishes that make sound of some kind, including groupers, cods, catfish, snappers, jacks, drums, grunts, porgies, damselfishes, parrotfishes, mackerels, tunas, searobins, eels, and mullets. The following species are prominent in inshore North Carolina waters.

Fish sound recordings

Scientific Publications

• Luczkovich, J. J. and Sprague, M. W. (In Press). "Identifying the critical spawning habitats of sciaenids using passive acoustics." Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
• M. W. Sprague and J. J. Luczkovich, (2004) "Measurement of an individual silver perch Bairdiella chrysoura sound pressure level in a field recording," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116 (5) pp. 3186-3191. PDF (420 KB).
• Sprague, M.W. and Luczkovich, J.J. (2001). "Do striped cusk-eels Ophidion marginatum (Ophidiidae) produce the 'chatter' sound attributed to weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Sciaenidae)?" Copeia 2001 (3) pp. 854-859. PDF (308 KB)
• Sprague, M.W. (2000). "The single sonic muscle twitch model for the sound-production mechanism in the weakfish, Cynoscion regalis," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 108 (5) pp. 2430-2437. PDF (312 KiB)
• Sprague, M.W., Luczkovich, J.J., Pullinger, R.C., Johnson, S.E., Jenkins, T., and Daniel, H.J., III (2000). "Using spectral analysis to identify drumming sounds of some North Carolina fishes in the family Sciaenidae," J. Elish. Mitch. Sci. Soc. 116, 124-145. PDF (4.1 MiB)
• Luczkovich, J.J., Daniel, H.J., III, Hutchinson, M., Jenkins, T., Johnson, S.E., Pullinger, R.C., and Sprague, M.W. (2000). "Sounds of sex and death in the sea: bottlenose dolphin whistles suppress mating choruses of silver perch," Bioacoustics 10, 323-334. PDF (2.6 MB)
• Luczkovich, J.J., Sprague, M.W., Johnson, S.E., and Pullinger, R.C. (1999). "Delimiting spawning areas of weakfish, Cynoscion regalis (family Sciaenidae), in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina using passive hydroacoustic surveys," Bioacoustics 10, 143-160.PDF (4.1 MB)
• Luczkovich, J.J., Daniel, H. J., III, Sprague, M.W., Johnson, S.E., Pullinger, R. C., Jenkins, T., and Hutchinson, M. (1999). Characterization of critical spawning habitats of weakfish, spotted seatrout and red drum in Pamlico Sound using hydrophone surveys, (North Carolina Dept. of Environ. and Nat. Resour., Div. Mar. Fish., Morehead City, NC). PDF, 5.1 MB.

News Reports About Our Work

• Earth and Sky: Fish Talk, June 8, 2000.
• Earth and Sky Feature Article: Fish Talk, June, 2000.
• Greenville, NC Daily Relfector Article: "Fish Talk: Team of ECU scientists studies sounds fish make," by Caroline Kalfas, January 23, 1999 - This article ran in AP newspapers around the world.
• Interview on NPR's All Things Considered, December 7, 1998 - Check out the story entitled "Fish Sounds."
• Earthwatch Radio feature: "Sounds of the Sea", December 2, 1998
• Earthwatch Radio feature: "Listening for Fish", November 24, 1998
• Raleigh News and Observer article: "Beneath a calm surface, researchers find a noisy, lustful world Why spying on fish could help save them," by Jerry Allegood, November 15, 1998 - This article was featured on the front page. It was picked up by the AP and ran in newspapers around the world.
• French news article on fish acoustics (in French)
• AP News Article on fish acoustics
• Interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday, June 26, 1998 - Check out hour two on acoustical oceanography.

Links

• East Carolina University - campus information
• ECU Department of Physics - one of the departments involved in this interdisciplinary study. The Physics Department has a new Ph.D. program in Biomedical Physics.
• ECU Department of Biology - another department involved in this interdisciplinary study.
• ECU Coastal Resources Management Ph.D. Program - this is a new interdisciplinary Ph.D. offered at ECU.
• North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries - This agency funds our research. Check out their Fish Finder section.
• Florida Division of Marine Resources Website - A great collection of fish pictures (among other useful information)
• National Marine Fisheries' website - great pictures of fish and other information