X-Ray Mag

Using sounds of healthy reefs to attract young fish

4 years ago By Sum Won

Healthy coral reefs are full of sounds of life—with the whistles, pops and grunts of fish, the crackle of snapping shrimp, etc. These sounds travel out through the ocean currents, and “advertise” to young fish to come and settle down at this particular reef ecosystem.

However, when reefs are degraded or dying, the environment falls silent. Literally.

As a result, young fish do not find their way to such reefs, and this exasperates the reef's dire situation.

Out of Air with Plenty to Breathe

Words
Simon Pridmore
Take responsibility for opening your own cylinder valve before a dive. If someone else wants to do it for you or touches it to check it is open, politely refuse.
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎

It was a beautiful day in Indonesia’s Banda Sea. Richard rolled back into the warm waters and swam over to join his wife, Florence. After exchanging signals, they descended together, heading for a patch of bright yellow sea fans on the reef wall at 30m, where their guide had promised to show them pygmy seahorses. The guide was already there below, searching for the elusive little creatures.

It appears that the presence of boats has an impact on the social behaviour of humpback whales.

Humpback whales less sociable in presence of boats

4 years ago By Sum Won

After studying humpback whales off Queensland's Peregian Beach, researchers discovered that the whales’ ability to communicate and socialise is adversely affected by the noise and presence of boats.

In some cases, the mammals’ communication range is reduced by a factor of four.

"It appears that groups of humpback whales tend to socialise much less in the presence of vessels—in this study, mostly small fishing boats—compared to when there aren't any present," said Rebecca Dunlop from The University of Queensland's Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory.

Subscribe to