How do larvae of organisms living on coral reefs navigate between the inhospitable open ocean to the productive coral reefs? Noise. It has been known for a while now that reef fish can hear and orient to the noisy reef. Shrimp and crabs snap. Parrotfish grind up corals and waves crash on the perimeter. If audio recordings of an active healthy reef is played away from the reef, the number of larvae collected dramatically increases. That fish, who are fellow vertebrates, can hear is probably not a surprise. Millions of kids talk to their pet fish daily. What might be more surprising is that coral larvae which are simple invertebrates are also attracted the sounds of the reef.
As the reefs degrade and motorboats become more common, the noise will change. How will this change the larval supply to the reefs? The future of coral reefs may partially depend on playing lullabies, of archived audio recordings of healthy reefs, to lure babies.
No comments:
Post a Comment