An overview of fish bioacoustics and the impacts of anthropogenic sounds on fishes

Paper by Arthur N Popper and Anthony D Hawkins

Fishes use a variety of sensory systems to learn about their environments and to communicate.  Of the various senses, hearing plays a particularly important role for fishes in providing information, often from great distances, from all round these animals. This information is in all three spatial dimensions, often overcoming the limitations of other senses such as vision, touch, taste and smell.  Sound is used for communication between fishes, thus anything that interferes with the ability of a fish to detect and respond to biologically relevant sounds can decrease survival and fitness of individuals and populations.  The intent of this paper is to review the potential effects of anthropogenic sounds upon fishes, and the most complete summary of the effects of anthropogenic noise on fishes to date. 

Full article: Journal of Fish Biology, Vol. 94, issue 3 2019