Check these sounds

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Sciaenid Acoustics Research Team
East Carolina University



Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus)

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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@mail.ecu.edu).

Go to: Faculty | Students | Background | Soniferous Fishes | Scientific Publications | Online Publications | News Reports | Links
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Faculty Members
Joe Luczkovich - Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources and Department of Biology, East Carolina University, email: luczkovichj@mail.ecu.edu
Mark Sprague - Department of Physics, East Carolina University, email: spraguem@mail.ecu.edu
Hal Daniel - Department of Biology, East Carolina University
Graduate Students
Stephen Johnson, email: sej0414@mail.ecu.edu
Chris Pullinger, email: rcp0219@mail.ecu.edu
Todd Jenkins, email: tpj0609@mail.ecu.edu
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.

Red Drum, Sciaenops ocellatus
Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus
Weakfish, Cynoscion regalis
Silver Perch, Bairdiella chrysoura
Oyster Toadfish, Opsanus tau
Atlantic Croaker, Micropogonias undulatus
Black Drum, Pogonias cromis
Shrimp, genera Alpheus, Synalpheus, and Penaeus - These are not really fish, but they produce a lot of sound!
Scientific Publications
Sprague, M.W. and Luczkovich, J.J. (In Press). "Do striped cusk-eels Ophidion marginatum (Ophidiidae) produce the 'chatter' sound attributed to weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Sciaenidae)?" Copeia.
Sprague, M.W. (In Press). "The single sonic muscle twitch model for the sound-production mechanism in the weakfish, Cynoscion regalis," J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
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
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.
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.
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). Get a copy of this report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) fromat (5.1 MB).
Online Publications
"Using Sound to Map Fish Spawning: Determining the Seasonality and Location of Spawning by Fishes in the Family Sciaenidae (Seatrouts, Drums, and Croakers) Within Pamlico Sound, NC" by Joseph J. Luczkovich, Mark W. Sprague and Stephen Johnson - This is a paper we presented at the June 1998 meeting of the International Congress on Acoustics/Acoustical Society of America in Seattle, WA.
Lay language version
Abstract for technical presentation
"Using Fish Sounds to Identify Spawning Activity of Weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) and Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) in Nature" by Mark W. Sprague, Joseph J. Luczkovich and Stephen Johnson - This is lay-language version of a paper we presented at the June 1998 meeting of the International Congress on Acoustics/Acoustical Society of America in Seattle, WA.
Lay language version
Abstract for technical presentation
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
Mark Sprague's WWW pages - Check out the Physics and the Environment section.
"Dr. Joe" Luczkovich's WWW Site - Environmental Biology from the one and only "Dr. Joe"
Chris Pullinger's Homepage - One of our graduate students. Chris is a unique person.
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