Speaking with the fishes
In this episode we ask: What sound does a fish make? It turns out the answer is a long and diverse list of sounds that includes the grunt of an Arctic cod. We talk to leading experts in fish sounds and fish physiology to explain how Arctic cod produce their grunts and begin to understand why they grunt in the first place.
The Codcast is produced by John William Last, in association with the Juanes Lab at the University of Victoria.
Episode Highlights:
- An introduction to the study of fish sounds
- Exploring the sounds that fish make, how these sounds are produced and what they are used for
- Fun fact: Fish farts are actually fish sounds
- Getting to the bottom of sound production for Arctic cod
Researchers Interviewed:
Rodney Roundtree: A.K.A. The Fish Listener. I have been a pioneer in passive acoustics for almost 3 decades and have maintained a web page on fish ecology since 1998 (www.fishecology.org) including a library of fish sounds and a children’s book. I have conduced research in the deep-sea, Amazon jungle, coastal estuaries, and many freshwater habitats. I received my Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1992, and am now retired, but continue passive acoustic research in many areas.
Eric Parmentier: I research the functional and evolutionary morphology of fish species. I am a professor at the University of Liege in Belgium. Eric Parmentier Wesbite (https://www.morfonct.uliege.be/cms/c_4463047/fr/morfonct-repertoire?uid=U179121)
Amalis Riera: Amalis is a Biologist from Spain who came to Victoria (BC) to do an MSc. in killer whale acoustics, which led to the expansion of the Endangered Southern Residents critical habitat. She studied cetacean occurrence around Vancouver Island with DFO, and then returned to UVic to study fish sounds. She described for the first time the sounds of Arctic cod, sablefish, and walleye pollock, and worked with an amazing team to create the FishSounds.net website. Her latest research revolved around the Arctic marine ecosystem, and included the acoustic detection of marine mammals and Arctic gadids. She has been working in management of BC freshwater invasive fauna since 2023 with the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Amalis Riera LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amalisr/?originalSubdomain=ca)
Additional resources:
Read Rodney Rountree’s multimedia e-book Listening to Fish: New Discoveries in Science, suitable for kids grades 5-12 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256483583_Listening_to_Fish_New_Discoveries_in_Science)
Check out the FishSounds website, featuring recordings of over 1000 fish species (https://fishsounds.net/)
Read more about the FishSounds project (https://www.uvic.ca/news/archive/topics/2022+fishsounds-online-library+media-release)
Read Xavier Mouy’s research paper describing the development of portable audio-video arrays used to identify fish sounds in the wild (https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.14095)
Read about new passive acoustics tools used to identify fish sounds in the wild (https://www.uvic.ca/science/home/news/current/passive-acoustics-tools.php)
Explore the University of Rhode Island’s Sound in the Sea project. (https://dosits.org/)
The production of this podcast is an outreach initiative part of the core NPRB funded research project 2103: Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida): seasonality and demography of their sound production (https://nprb.org/project-search/#metadata/d97512b8-c9ef-4751-bb14-477697dd9426/project)
Learn more about John William Last, the producer of the Codcast (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-william-last-30aab034/?originalSubdomain=it)
The Codcast is produced by John William Last, in association with the Juanes Lab at the University of Victoria.
Episode Highlights:
- An introduction to the study of fish sounds
- Exploring the sounds that fish make, how these sounds are produced and what they are used for
- Fun fact: Fish farts are actually fish sounds
- Getting to the bottom of sound production for Arctic cod
Researchers Interviewed:
Rodney Roundtree: A.K.A. The Fish Listener. I have been a pioneer in passive acoustics for almost 3 decades and have maintained a web page on fish ecology since 1998 (www.fishecology.org) including a library of fish sounds and a children’s book. I have conduced research in the deep-sea, Amazon jungle, coastal estuaries, and many freshwater habitats. I received my Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1992, and am now retired, but continue passive acoustic research in many areas.
Eric Parmentier: I research the functional and evolutionary morphology of fish species. I am a professor at the University of Liege in Belgium. Eric Parmentier Wesbite (https://www.morfonct.uliege.be/cms/c_4463047/fr/morfonct-repertoire?uid=U179121)
Amalis Riera: Amalis is a Biologist from Spain who came to Victoria (BC) to do an MSc. in killer whale acoustics, which led to the expansion of the Endangered Southern Residents critical habitat. She studied cetacean occurrence around Vancouver Island with DFO, and then returned to UVic to study fish sounds. She described for the first time the sounds of Arctic cod, sablefish, and walleye pollock, and worked with an amazing team to create the FishSounds.net website. Her latest research revolved around the Arctic marine ecosystem, and included the acoustic detection of marine mammals and Arctic gadids. She has been working in management of BC freshwater invasive fauna since 2023 with the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Amalis Riera LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amalisr/?originalSubdomain=ca)
Additional resources:
Read Rodney Rountree’s multimedia e-book Listening to Fish: New Discoveries in Science, suitable for kids grades 5-12 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256483583_Listening_to_Fish_New_Discoveries_in_Science)
Check out the FishSounds website, featuring recordings of over 1000 fish species (https://fishsounds.net/)
Read more about the FishSounds project (https://www.uvic.ca/news/archive/topics/2022+fishsounds-online-library+media-release)
Read Xavier Mouy’s research paper describing the development of portable audio-video arrays used to identify fish sounds in the wild (https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.14095)
Read about new passive acoustics tools used to identify fish sounds in the wild (https://www.uvic.ca/science/home/news/current/passive-acoustics-tools.php)
Explore the University of Rhode Island’s Sound in the Sea project. (https://dosits.org/)
The production of this podcast is an outreach initiative part of the core NPRB funded research project 2103: Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida): seasonality and demography of their sound production (https://nprb.org/project-search/#metadata/d97512b8-c9ef-4751-bb14-477697dd9426/project)
Learn more about John William Last, the producer of the Codcast (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-william-last-30aab034/?originalSubdomain=it)
