‘<i>Posidonia</i> meadows calling’: a ubiquitous fish sound with monitoring potential

Iorio, Lucia Di; Raick, Xavier; Parmentier, Éric; Boissery, Pierre; Valentini-Poirier, C. A.; Gervaise, Cédric

doi:10.1002/rse2.72

Cited by 32 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Cluster analysis carried out by Di Iorio et al (2018) on a consistent sample of /Kwa/ (i.e. N /Kwa/ =23,566) revealed a high degree of /Kwa/ variability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neptune seagrass meadows are crucial habitats that provide refuge, nursery and food to several fish and invertebrate species (Gobert et al, 2006;Abadie et al, 2018). It is somehow surprising that the first descriptions of the Neptune seagrass soundscape and of its fish biophonical component have been published only very recently (Ceraulo et al, 2018;Di Iorio et al, 2018). Di Iorio et al (2018) recorded the soundscape of nine Western Mediterranean meadows (over a 200 km range) over 7 months (March-October).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is somehow surprising that the first descriptions of the Neptune seagrass soundscape and of its fish biophonical component have been published only very recently (Ceraulo et al, 2018;Di Iorio et al, 2018). Di Iorio et al (2018) recorded the soundscape of nine Western Mediterranean meadows (over a 200 km range) over 7 months (March-October). All nine sites were dominated by one particular fish sound type, the /Kwa/, which was 20 times more abundant than any other fish sound.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All nine sites were dominated by one particular fish sound type, the /Kwa/, which was 20 times more abundant than any other fish sound. The /Kwa/ possesses unique features which set this sound type apart from other Mediterranean fish calls, especially in terms of pulse shape, spectral content (bandwidth, peak frequency, pseudo-harmonic contour) and intrinsic variability (Di Iorio et al, 2018). The /Kwa/ is a fast, amplitude-modulated pulse train of 13±6 pulses repeated every 13± 4 ms with a peak frequency of 747±136 Hz characterized by pseudo-harmonics around the 800 Hz contour in the spectrographic view (Di Iorio et al, 2018;Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…<500 Hz; Desiderà et al, 2019), and only a few show harmonic and pseudo-harmonic contours. The /Kwa/ has been registered over a wide geographical range, from French and Corsican coastlines (Di Iorio et al, 2018) to Sicily (Ceraulo et al, 2018; the /Kwa/ was here called 'medium frequency fish sound') and Ustica Island (Hermand, 2006) and from Crete (M.B., personal observation) to the Azores (Rita Carriço, personal communication), passing through the Balearic islands (M.B., personal observation; Correa et al, 2018, 'croak sound'). None of the 38 currently identified Mediterranean vocal fish species produces the /Kwa/ (Di .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The sea chordophones make the mysterious /Kwa/: emitter identification of the dominating fish sound in Mediterranean seagrass meadows

Bolgan

Soulard

Iorio

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The /Kwa/ vocalization dominates the soundscape of Posidonia oceanica meadows but the identity of the species emitting this peculiar fish sound remains a mystery. Information from sounds recorded in the wild indicates that the emitting candidates should be abundant, nocturnal and benthic. Scorpaena spp. combine all these characteristics. This study used an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the vocal abilities of Scorpaena spp.; morphological, histological and electrophysiological examinations were interpreted together with visual and acoustic recordings conducted in seminatural conditions. All observed Scorpaena spp. (S. porcus, S. scrofa and S. notata) share the same sonic apparatus at the level of the abdominal region. This apparatus, present in both males and females, consists of 3 bilaterally symmetrical muscular bundles, having 3-5 long tendons, which insert on ventral bony apophyses of the vertebral bodies. In all chordophones (stringed instruments), the frequency of the vibration is dependent on the string properties and not on the rate at which the strings are plucked. Similarly, we suggest that each of the 3-5 tendons found in the sonic mechanism of Scorpaena spp. acts as a frequency multiplier of the muscular bundle contractions, where the resonant properties of the tendons determine the peak frequency of the /Kwa/, its frequency spectra and pseudoharmonic profile. The variability in the length and number of tendons found between and within species could explain the high variability of /Kwa/ acoustic features recorded in the wild. Finally, acoustic and behavioural experiments confirmed that Scorpaena spp. can emit the /Kwa/ sound.

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“…Cluster analysis carried out by Di Iorio et al (2018) on a consistent sample of /Kwa/ (i.e. N /Kwa/ =23,566) revealed a high degree of /Kwa/ variability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The sea chordophones make the mysterious /Kwa/: emitter identification of the dominating fish sound in Mediterranean seagrass meadows

Bolgan

Soulard

Iorio

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Sound features and vocal rhythms as a proxy for locating the spawning ground ofSciaena umbrain the wild

Picciulin

Fiorin

Facca

et al. 2020

Aquatic Conservation

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The brown meagre (Sciaena umbra) is a demersal sciaenid fish recognized as indicative of good environmental quality and is defined as an umbrella species for the ecological community of rocky coastal habitats. Sciaena umbra is classified as a Vulnerable fish species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and knowledge on the distribution of its spawning habitats is essential for its conservation. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is a suitable tool to monitor S. umbra distribution because of the high consistency, over space and time, of the communication sounds that this species emits during the reproductive period, with irregular or regular rhythms, or with calls merging into a chorus. During the summer of 2019, the presence of this species was investigated acoustically at 40 listening points distributed along the tidal inlets that connect the Venice lagoon with the open sea. Longer sounds, comprising a higher number of faster repeated pulses, were found during the chorus and were used as a proxy of spawning activity; similar sound features have been recorded in different captive Sciaenids during spawning. The three inlets were classified as more or less suitable for spawning on the basis of the vocal rhythms identified, demonstrating a clear preference along a north–south gradient and indicating higher spawning activity in the internal‐facing areas of the inlets, compared with the seaward‐facing areas. The chorus occurred in localized areas consistently throughout the breeding season, suggesting that spawning is concentrated in preferred areas. For the first time a relationship between the sound features and vocal rhythms of fish has been highlighted by an in situ study. This validates the use of the chorus as a reliable natural indicator of S. umbra breeding sites, and in turn suggests a potential non‐invasive approach based on PAM for mapping the key reproductive areas of this vulnerable species in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Sound discrimination of two sympatric, threatened fish species allows for their in situ mapping

Picciulin

Bolgan

Facca

et al. 2021

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Human impacts on marine ecosystems are increasing and the number of fish species listed in the Red List is constantly growing. In the Mediterranean Sea, seven of the 10 bony fishes defined as Threatened by the IUCN are known to be vocal, including the target species of this study: the shi drum (Umbrina cirrosa Linnaeus, 1758) and the brown meagre (Sciaena umbra Linnaeus, 1758). As a result, non-invasive passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) can be used to pinpoint their distribution at sea. However, for PAM to be effective, reliable acoustic discrimination is required because the sounds they emit during reproduction are remarkably similar (i.e. short broadband pulsed sounds).2. The shi drum and the brown meagre are closely related, elusive, vocal sciaenids, partially overlapping in their ecological niche. During summer 2019, three PAM surveys were conducted along the tidal inlets of the Venice lagoon (Italy). Here, the calls of both species have been recognized according to their temporal features: shi drum sounds were made up of a lower number of longer pulses with a different envelope, repeated at a lower rate than those of the brown meagre. Further, shi drum and brown meagre sounds of different origins (aquaculture and semi-natural conditions) were analysed and compared with those collected during the survey of the study area in order to validate the field collected data.3. Call discrimination allowed for a fine-scale species mapping, showing a partially overlapping distribution of the two species along the inlets. This is the first case in which two sciaenids have been documented to share their reproductive habitat in the Mediterranean Sea.4. This study demonstrates that it is feasible to acoustically monitor the target species even in those parts of the Mediterranean Sea where they co-exist. This, in its turn, could provide managers with the required data for effective conservation measures to be implemented.

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‘Posidonia meadows calling’: a ubiquitous fish sound with monitoring potential

Cited by 32 publications

References 69 publications

The sea chordophones make the mysterious /Kwa/: emitter identification of the dominating fish sound in Mediterranean seagrass meadows

The sea chordophones make the mysterious /Kwa/: emitter identification of the dominating fish sound in Mediterranean seagrass meadows

Sound features and vocal rhythms as a proxy for locating the spawning ground ofSciaena umbrain the wild

Sound discrimination of two sympatric, threatened fish species allows for their in situ mapping

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