Grazing sea urchins create ambient underwater noise on rocky reefs
July 23rd, 2008 - 1:53 pm ICT by ANILondon, July 23 (ANI): A new study has found out that chewing sounds from ravenous sea urchins cause ambient underwater noise on rocky reefs, which becomes a hundred times louder just before dawn and just after dusk.
According to a report in New Scientist, Craig Radford and his colleagues at the University of Auckland, New Zealand did the study.
The team recorded the sounds made by individual reef animals in the lab, and then compared them with the dominant sound in the natural reef din.
The urchins hide in crevices during the day, out of sight from predators, and emerge to feed at dusk.
When they first come out I guess theyre hungry, so theyre eating with lots of gusto and making lots of munching noises, said co-author Andrew Jeffs.
Jeffs suggested that the peak in urchin feeding just before dawn may be their supper, before they tuck themselves back into crevices for the day.
According to Jeffs, this regular noise could even help the larvae of fish and crabs find their way to reefs, as previous studies have found that some larvae can orient towards sound. (ANI)
- Noisy urchins cause mysterious ocean sounds - Aug 19, 2008
- Fish feel at home with noisy neighbours - Jan 12, 2011
- Young fish take cues from noisy neighbors before settling down - Jan 10, 2011
- Baby corals use sound cues to reach home - May 15, 2010
- Acidic oceans endangering baby corals - Apr 19, 2012
- Now, meet the shrimp that makes more noise than a jumbo jet! - Mar 03, 2011
- Fish develop 'mosquito nets' for good sleep - Nov 18, 2010
- Study finds how sea urchins affect coral reefs' growth - Jan 15, 2011
- Noise could sound the death knell of ocean fish - Aug 15, 2010
- Modern sparrows sing louder to be heard - Apr 05, 2012
- Sparrows twittering louder to be heard - Apr 03, 2012
- Just 10 yrs left to save Oz's Great Barrier Reef: Expert - Apr 10, 2011
- Eyeless urchins can "see" with spines - Feb 07, 2010
- Dolphins can learn new language even while asleep - Jan 25, 2012
- Coral reefs will survive ravages of warming: Scientists - Apr 17, 2012
Tags: auckland new zealand, co author, crabs, crevices, dominant sound, dusk, gusto, hundred times, jeffs, larvae, natural reef, new scientist, out of sight, predators, radford, reef animals, rocky reefs, underwater noise, university of auckland, university of auckland new zealand