There are countless of marine animals who actually depend on sound for survival and relying on their unique adaptations which allows them to do a number of things including but not limited to:
- Communication
- Protection
- Locating food
- Navigating underwater and/or;
- Understand their surroundings or environment
They might also produce sounds and then listen to sounds around them. Sounds are extremely useful for communication as they could be used in conveying bunch of information even on long distances and process it quickly. Changes in pitch, rate and/or structure of the sounds is communicating different messages. Particularly speaking, marine mammals and fish are using sound to communicate which is also associated with territoriality and reproduction. There are also marine mammals that are using sound for maintaining group structure.
It is where Sonar Systems Originated
Much like the sonar systems installed on ships, there are whales that are using sounds in detecting, characterizing and localizing objects. By means of emitting short sound pulses or clicks, these marine mammals are capable of listening for echoes and even detecting underwater objects. This is otherwise referred to as echolocation.
As a matter of fact, there are dolphins and whales that are using echolocation in locating food by sending pulsed sounds that are then reflected back as soon as they hit a target.
Analyzing echoes can help animals in determining the shape and size of an object, its location and whether or not it’s moving.
Marine Animals themselves are the Inspiration
Basically, in aquarium reviews, tips & inspiration, this particular skill of marine animals are used in designing the aquarium to give these living things a natural-like habitat.
There are various species of aquatic invertebrates and fish that are using sounds. Fish is producing different types of sounds including snaps, clicks, croaks and grunts in which the main purpose is attracting mates and warding off predators.
Life history of coral reef fish includes pelagic larval stage where it metamorphoses into juvenile stage. Late stage larvae as well as transforming juveniles have to reach suitable reefs in order for them to mature. Actually, different coastal habitats have been discovered in producing different ambient sounds on short distances.