Characterization of the acoustic community of vocal fishes in the Azores

Rita Carriço; Mónica A Silva; Gui M Menezes; Paulo J Fonseca; Maria Clara P Amorim

doi:10.7717/peerj.7772

Characterization of the acoustic community of vocal fishes in the Azores

PeerJ. 2019 Nov 4:7:e7772. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7772. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Rita Carriço^{1

2}, Mónica A Silva^{1

3}, Gui M Menezes¹, Paulo J Fonseca⁴, Maria Clara P Amorim^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Okeanos-UAc R&D Center, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal; MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre and IMAR - Institute of Marine Research, Horta, Açores, Portugal.
² MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal.
³ Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Barnstable County, MA, United States of America.
⁴ Departamento de Biologia Animal and cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵ Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

Sounds produced by teleost fishes are an important component of marine soundscapes, making passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) an effective way to map the presence of vocal fishes with a minimal impact on ecosystems. Based on a literature review, we list the known soniferous fish species occurring in Azorean waters and compile their sounds. We also describe new fish sounds recorded in Azores seamounts. From the literature, we identified 20 vocal fish species present in Azores. We analysed long-term acoustic recordings carried out since 2008 in Condor and Princesa Alice seamounts and describe 20 new putative fish sound sequences. Although we propose candidates as the source of some vocalizations, this study puts into evidence the myriad of fish sounds lacking species identification. In addition to identifying new sound sequences, we provide the first marine fish sound library for Azores. Our acoustic library will allow to monitor soniferous fish species for conservation and management purposes.

Keywords: Acoustic communication; Azores; Fish sounds; Passive acoustic monitoring; Seamounts.

Grants and funding

Data collection for this study was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Azores 2020 Operational Programme and Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia, through research projects TRACE (PTDC/MAR/74071/2006), MAPCET (M2.1.2/F/012/2011), FCT-Exploratory (IF/00943/2013/CP1199/CT0001), WATCH IT (Acores-01-0145-FEDER-000057), and MISTIC SEAS II (GA11.0661/2017/750679/SUB/ ENV.C2), through funds from FEDER, COMPETE, QREN, POPH, ESF, the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, and EU-DG/ENV. Funds were also provided by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia to MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (UID/MAR/04292/2019; Maria Clara P. Amorim) and to cE3c (UID/BIA/00329/2019; Paulo J. Fonseca). Rita Carriço was funded by a PhD scholarship from Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia (M3.1.a/F/070/2015). Mónica A. Silva was supported by POPH, QREN, ESF, and the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, through Fundo para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Investigator contract (IF/00943/2013). The APC fees for open access publication were supported by a program of the Regional Government of the Azores (“Apoio ao funcionamento e gestão dos centros de I&D regionais: 2019 - DRCT- medida 1.1.a - Okeanos-UAc”). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.